Iowa's Republican governor on Thursday approved legislation banning transgender women and girls from participating in sports teams that correspond to their gender in accredited schools and colleges.
Kim Reynolds' decision to sign House File 2416 means the state joins South Dakota in enforcing such a ban this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Her signing comes as Republican-led states intensified efforts to restrict the lives of transgender youth, including Texas, where state officials have decided to declare some form of gender-affirming care for trans youth with child abuse. are trying.
Iowa law states: "Only female students may, by virtue of their gender, participate in any team, sport, or athletic event designated for women, women or girls." The measure defines "gender" as the gender listed on a student's birth certificate or adoption certificate "issued at or near the student's birth."
While sex is a category that broadly refers to physiology, a person's gender is an innate sense of identity. The factors that determine gender listed on a birth certificate can include anatomy, genetics, and hormones, and there is wide natural variation in each of these categories. For this reason, critics have stated that the language of "biological sex", as used in this law, is overly simplistic and misleading.
Advocates of such measures have argued that transgender women and girls have a physical advantage over cisgender women and girls in sports. But a 2017 report in the journal Sports Medicine that reviewed several related studies found "no direct or consistent research" on trans people who have an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers, and critics say this law Adds to the discrimination that trans people face, especially trans youth.
Signing the bill on Thursday, Reynolds used transphobic language to justify the need for the ban, saying: "Nobody can talent, train, or strive for the natural physical advantages of men over women. It's only Human biology is a reality."
"Forcing women to compete against men is the opposite of inclusivity and is absolutely unfair," she said.
The law went into effect soon after Reynolds signed it.
The debate over the inclusion of transgender athletes, particularly women and girls, has become a political flashpoint in recent years, especially among conservatives.
Last year, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia imposed similar sports bans, angering LGBTQ advocates who argue that conservatives are making a point where there is no .
Opponents have had some limited legal success in fighting the measures, including last year when a federal judge temporarily halted West Virginia's enforcement of its ban after advocates sued the state, the judge. said that they had been provided with "little evidence that this law addresses any. Problem at all, let alone an important problem." And in 2020, a federal judge blocked Idaho's sports ban from being enforced.
Advocates sued Tennessee in November in an effort to lift that state's ban, though no decision has yet been reached in that case.
All these challenges have been brought about with the help of the ACLU. CNN has reached out to the organization for comment on Iowa's law.
The NCAA has come out in opposition to such restrictions last April, monitoring them closely to ensure that the NCAA Championships "can be held in a welcoming and respectful manner to all participants." "
Advocates for their decision to sign Reynolds into law on Thursday, along with The Trevor Project, a non-profit organization that works on suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth, said it was "serious" on trans youth. Mental health will have an impact.
Sam Ames, director of the advocacy and government affairs group, said, “Separating trans students will only contribute to the social isolation and stigma that plagues bullying and mental health challenges for young trans people – issues that are already dangerous. at significantly higher rates." Statement.
The Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation's largest LGBTQ rights groups, said the bill's acceptance was "an embarrassing moment in Iowa's history."
Jody Winterhoff, senior vice president of policy and political affairs for the Human Rights Campaign, said: "With the stroke of his pen, and regardless of where transgender children or their parents meet, Governor Reynolds has reversed years of progress and our The state has been taken backwards." cases, in a statement.