South Carolina bans biological males from women's sports teams



South Carolina on Tuesday became the sixteenth state to enact a law prohibiting gender dysphoric males from competing in female athletics at the K-12 and collegiate levels.

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signed H.4608, the Save Women's Sports Act, a law that requires middle school, high school, and college student athletes to compete in sports leagues according to the sex on their birth certificates.

Republican state legislatures have advanced similar laws under the argument that males have natural biological advantages over females, and that permitting athletes who were born men to compete against women is unfair.

"I think the girls ought to play girls and the boys ought to play boys. That’s the way we’ve always done it," McMaster said prior to signing the bill.

It\u2019s common sense, boys should play boys sports and girls should play girls sports.
— Gov. Henry McMaster (@Gov. Henry McMaster) 1652808407

The law would prohibit males who identify as female from competing against women and girls. State Senator Richard Cash (R), who helped advance the law through the legislature, said it was necessary to keep opportunities for female athletes fair in comments made after the Senate passed the bill earlier this month.

The law "will protect those who are born biologically as females from having to compete against those who are born biologically as males but identify as females,” Cash said.

Democrats opposed the law, arguing it was not needed and that those in favor of restricting transgender athletes to sports teams of their birth sex were hateful and bigoted.

"Transgender youth are not a threat to fairness in sports, and this law now needlessly stigmatizes young people who are simply trying to navigate their adolescence, make friends, and build skills like teamwork and leadership, winning and losing," said Ivy Hill, Executive Director of Gender Benders and Community Health Program Director of Campaign for Southern Equality.

Social conservative groups applauded the state.

“Male athletes do not belong in our daughters’ sports, period. This is a view shared by an overwhelming majority of Americans, as our recent polling of battleground states has shown. Biology matters, and no amount of gaslighting by woke ideologues will change that," said Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project.

“We applaud Governor McMaster and South Carolina lawmakers for taking action to protect a fair playing field for girl athletes in the Palmetto State. With 16 states now having taken this step, there is no excuse left for those states that haven’t, particularly those led by Republicans. This is now a litmus-test issue for the GOP, and voters will be paying attention to what their leaders either do or fail to do as we approach the midterms.”

Prior to the Save Women's Sports Act, the High School League of South Carolina made decisions on whether gender dysphoric students should compete on girls or boys teams on a case-by-case basis and has considered fewer than half a dozen cases per year, according to the Associated Press.

Biden administration will soon reinterpret Title IX to strike down Fairness in Women's Sports laws



President Joe Biden's administration will soon take action to overhaul federal civil rights laws and enact a new regime of Title IX rules for college athletics, according to a report.

The U.S. Department of Education is writing new rules that would make discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity illegal under Title IX, a 1972 law that bans sex discrimination in education, the Washington Post reports.

In other words, it would be illegal for states prohibit gender-dysphoric male athletes who present as female from competing against women in college athletics. Schools that receive federal funding must permit transgender athletes to compete according to their self-identified gender or risk losing those funds.

The new rules will be published in April, according to the report. The changes are currently under review by the White House. Next, the government must issue a notice of proposed rulemaking and give the public a chance to comment before they are finalized.

Draft text reportedly reads, "Discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex-related characteristics (including intersex traits), pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”

Biden's change to federal law, enacted via executive order, would set up a direct confrontation between the federal government and twelve Republican-run states that have passed "Fairness in Women's Sports" laws banning males who identify as girls or women from participating in girls' and women's sports. These states include Utah, Texas, Florida, Idaho, and South Dakota.

Republicans have argued that male athletes who present as female have biological advantages over girls, but this point is contested by LGBTQ+ advocates.

Debate has raged on this issue as transgender swimmer Lia Thomas — a man who identifies as female — controversially won the NCAA Division I championship in the 500-yard women’s freestyle. Thomas swam for the Penn men's team before beginning to take cross-sex hormones and present as female.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) rejected Thomas' victory as a "fraud," issuing a proclamation that declared second-place finisher, Emma Weyant, a Sarasota resident, the "real winner."

The Biden administration announced its intention to change how Title IX is interpreted last summer and began holding public hearings on the proposal. The decision followed the Supreme Court's 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga., a 6-3 ruling that said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay and transgender workers from employment discrimination. The court majority reasoned that people being fired for being gay or transgender were being treated differently because of their sex, which is illegal.

Because Title IX is very similar to Title VII, the Biden administration has argued that the same reinterpretation of illegal sex discrimination should apply in education.

Both supporters and opponents of the change were given an opportunity to make their case to the Education Department during hearings, the Post reported.

“Under the Title IX, every student who wants to should be able to play and feel welcome as who they are,” said Amit Paley, chief executive of the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth. “By ensuring that LGBTQ young people have access to a welcoming and affirming school environment, the Department of Education can improve student mental health and well-being and ultimately save lives.”

In contrast, Cynthia Monteleone, a world champion sprinter and girls' track coach, told the department that including transgender athletes in women's sports creates unfair competition. She described how her daughter came in second place in a race against a male transgender runner who played volleyball as a boy.

“My daughter trained for two years for this first race. This transgender athlete trained for track for two weeks,” she said.

Stating that as a coach, she teaches girls that hard work pays off, she asked, "How can I continue to teach this … when, quite literally, average boys can change their identity and beat the top female in the competition?”

South Dakota 'Fairness in Women's Sports' bill becomes law in Gov. Noem's first act of new year



South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem on Thursday signed the "Fairness in Women's Sports" bill into law, enacting what social conservatives have called the "strongest" protections for women's sports in the nation. The new law prohibits any student at a state school from joining a sports team that does not match his or her biological sex.

After signing the bill, Noem said the law was needed to protect "fairness" in athletic competition.

“This is about fairness. Every young woman deserves an equal playing field where she can achieve success, but common sense tells us that males have an unfair physical advantage over females in athletic competition. It is for those reasons that only girls should be competing in girls’ sports,” the governor said in a statement. “Women have fought long and hard for equal athletic opportunities, and South Dakota will defend them, but we have to do it in a smart way.”

The law states that "only female athletes, based on their biological sex, shall participate in any team, sport, or athletic event designated as being for females, women, or girls." It also defines "biological sex" as "the sex listed on the student's official birth certificate issued at or near the time of the athlete’s birth."

Individual athletes may file private lawsuits against any school or institutions that do not comply with the new statutory requirements. The law also instructs the state attorney general to "provide legal representation at no cost to that entity or individual" who files a lawsuit against schools for noncompliance.

"This is a statute in the state of South Dakota that will ensure that girls sports [are] protected," Noem told reporters.

A previous version of this law was opposed by the governor for containing provisions she said were "unrealistic in the context of collegiate sports." The governor issued a "style and form" revision of the legislation last March, sending it back to the legislature with changes. Republican lawmakers rejected Noem's changes and she ultimately vetoed that bill, provoking harsh rebuke from social conservative groups.

But the bill the bill that became law this week was strongly praised by those same groups, who applauded Noem for fighting for this law.

“Gov. Noem and South Dakota legislators deserve a great deal of credit for passing this strong legislation, despite some hiccups last year. We thank them for standing up for equal opportunities for their state’s women and girl athletes, and we urge lawmakers in states without such protections to get to work on passing them immediately,” American Principles Project president Terry Schilling said.

Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Christiana Holcomb said, “Girls deserve equal opportunities to experience the thrill of victory. We welcome South Dakota to the growing number of states that are ensuring their female athletes won’t be spectators in their own sports. When schools and society ignore biological differences between the sexes, it’s girls and women who pay the price. In athletics, girls are losing medals, podium spots, public recognition, and opportunities to compete."

"We commend the legislature and governor for supporting this important legislation, which ensures that female athletes from kindergarten to college will not face those losses in South Dakota,” Holcomb added.

Left-wing groups condemned the new law.

"This cruel and dangerous bill is part of a coordinated attack on trans youth moving nationwide," the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted.

Susan Williams, executive director of the Transformation Project, told the Argus Leader that Thursday was a dark day for transgender youth in South Dakota.

"Today, we are devastated that one of these bills is being signed into law," she said. "We know trans youth across this state and country are hurting at this news. We want every trans person watching to know that we are with you, we see you, and we are here for you."

Justice Kavanaugh nukes NCAA in concurring opinion to landmark decision ruling student athletes should get benefits



In an unanimous decision handed down Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA is violating U.S. antitrust law by restricting the benefits colleges can make available to student athletes.

Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the court's opinion, which said the NCAA unlawfully harmed college athletes by limiting schools from competing for top talent by offering education-related benefits — like school supplies or paid internships. Gorsuch wrote that the NCAA sought "immunity from the normal operation of the antitrust laws," which the court refused to give.

The decision does not immediately open the doors for paid compensation for college athletes, as that issue was not before the court. Instead, it will permit schools to offer a wide range of educational benefits including tutoring, study abroad programs, and graduate scholarships, according to the Associated Press.

Current NCAA rules stipulate that student athletes cannot be paid and cap the scholarship money schools can offer at the cost of attending the school. The NCAA claims these rules are necessary because college athletes do not play at a professional level, and compensating them financially would detract from the amateur nature of collegiate sports.

But several former athletes who sued the NCAA, including former West Virginia football player Shawne Alston, disagreed. They argued in their lawsuit that the NCAA's rules on education-related compensation were unlawful and unfair, and the Supreme Court agreed with their argument.

In a concurring opinion that will turn heads, Justice Brett Kavanaugh signaled that he at least is willing to go further and declare the NCAA's refusal to allow college athletes to be paid a violation of antitrust law.

"The NCAA has long restricted the compensation and benefits that student athletes may receive," Justice Kavanaugh wrote. "And with surprising success, the NCAA has long shielded its compensation rules from ordinary antitrust scrutiny. Today, however, the Court holds that the NCAA has violated the antitrust laws. The Court's decision marks an important and overdue course correction, and I join the Court's excellent opinion in full."

Continuing, the justice said that "the NCAA's remaining compensation rules also raise serious questions under the antitrust laws."

"The NCAA couches its arguments for not paying student athletes in innocuous labels," he wrote. "But the labels cannot disguise the reality: The NCAA's business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America. All of the restaurants in a region cannot come together to cut cooks' wages on the theory that 'customers prefer' to eat food from low-paid cooks. Law firms cannot conspire to cabin lawyers' salaries in the name of providing legal services out of a 'love of the law.' Hospitals cannot agree to cap nurses' income in order to create a 'purer' form of helping the sick. News organizations cannot join forces to curtail pay to reporters to preserve a 'tradition' of public-minded journalism. Movie studios cannot collude to slash benefits to camera crews to kindle a 'spirit of amateurism' in Hollywood."

He went on to accuse the NCAA of "price-fixing labor," which he called a "textbook antitrust problem."

"The bottom line is that the NCAA and its member colleges are suppressing the pay of student athletes who collectively generate billions of dollars in revenues for colleges every year. Those enormous sums of money flow to seemingly everyone except the student athletes. College presidents, athletic directors, coaches, conference commissioners, and NCAA executives take in six- and seven-figure salaries. Colleges build lavish new facilities. But the student athletes who generate the revenues, many of whom are African American and from lower-income backgrounds, end up with little or nothing," he charged.

Kavanaugh torched the NCAA's justifications for refusing to let student athletes be paid based on the tradition of amateur sports.

"Those traditions alone cannot justify the NCAA's decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated," he wrote. "Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The NCAA is not above the law."

Florida Gov. DeSantis says he will sign 'Fairness in Women's Sports' bill banning trans athletes from competing against females



Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday pledged to sign his state's version of a bill to protect fairness in women's sports by prohibiting transgender athletes who were born males from competing against females.

In a surprise move this week, Florida Republicans in the state House revived the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act" after it died in Senate committee by attaching it as an amendment to SB 1028, a charter school bill. The legislation would ban males from competing on women's sports teams at the public secondary and collegiate level.

The House passed the bill Wednesday in a vote of 79-37, mostly along party lines. The state Senate passed the bill 23-16 later that evening. If DeSantis signs the bill into law, Florida would be the seventh state to adopt a form of the "Fairness in Women's Sports" bill though 30 states are considering similar legislation.

At a Fox News town hall Thursday evening with other Republican governors, Gov. DeSantis said he was eager to sign the bill.

"Oh yeah, we're going to protect our girls. I have a 4-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old daughter and they're both very athletic. And we want to have opportunities for our girls," DeSantis told host Laura Ingraham. "They deserve an even playing field and that's what we're doing with what Mississippi did, with what Florida did, and I know with what other states are going to do."

"So I look forward to being able to sign that into law," he said.

DeSantis vows to sign bill barring transgender females from girls' sports. https://t.co/poRJBkleuH

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) 1619789945.0

Critics including state Democrats and LGBTQ activists have assailed the bill as "cruel" and discriminatory against transgender youth.

"It's horrific," Gina Duncan, the director of transgender equality at Equality Florida, said. "This bill shows not only their lack of humanity but their astounding ignorance about the transgender community, not understanding that trans girls are girls and transgender women are women.

"Despite impassioned pleas by legislators who have gay and transgender kids and grandkids imploring supporters of this bill to understand the harm that it will do, Republicans followed their marching orders to implement this orchestrated culture war and move this bill forward."

"If they want to play, let them play, there's nothing to stop them," said state Sen. Victor Torres (D), who's grandchild is transgender and identifies as female. "We thought it was dead, but obviously some don't care."

Republican supporters of the legislation countered that it's unfair that athletes who were born with male DNA, male skeletal structures, and have male muscle development are allowed to compete with girls.

"I thought it was common knowledge that men are stronger than women," Sen. Kelli Stargel (R) said. "We're just trying to protect them."

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R), who participated in the town hall with DeSantis and was the first Republican governor to sign a fairness in women's sports bill into law this year, said Thursday that biological males should not be able to compete with girls for scholarships and other opportunities.

"This is an issue I'm passionate about and the reason I'm passionate about it is because I have a 16-year-old daughter, a 14-year-old daughter, and a 9-year-old daughter and they play basketball and they play soccer and they play every sport they can possible play," Reeves said. "And the reality is biological males should not be allowed to compete with them for athletic scholarships. They should not be allowed to be able to compete with them for opportunities."

Adding to the controversy over these bills is the National Collegiate Athletic Association's stated opposition to legislation it claims discriminates against transgender athletes. The NCAA has threatened to pull championship games from states that pass laws barring biological males from playing on girls sports teams, leading some Republican lawmakers and governors to hesitate over enacting laws that apply to collegiate sports.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) outraged social conservatives by vetoing her state's version of the "Fairness in Women's Sports" bill, saying the portion of the bill that applies to colleges and universities was "unrealistic in the context of collegiate athletics."

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) likewise vetoed a similar bill, claiming that there was no evidence that girls sports were in "immediate danger" of becoming unfair and deferring to the state athletic association to determine the rules governing high school and collegiate sports.

But social conservative activists are making clear that Republicans who want their support must stand up to protect women's sports.

"Women's sports has been a breakthrough issue showing how to win on cultural issues," American Principles Project President Terry Schilling said.

"This is now the status quo for the Republican Party," he added. "You must support protecting women's sports to be a contender in the party."