Lawmakers in Arkansas, US have introduced a bill which would prevent young trans women from playing on girls sports teams at school, making it the latest state to propose such a law. According to Associated Press, attorney general Leslie Rutledge is one of the main sponsors of the bill, saying it is “common sense”, and that Arkansas should not comply with a recent executive order from president Joe Biden which called for trans inclusion in school sports.
Rutledge said: “This bill will ensure the integrity of girls and women in sports.” Arkansas is one of 20 states which has proposed regulations against transgender athletes. Despite the increasing hostility towards young trans people, a recent study from the Centre for American Progress found trans inclusion in school sports poses no threat to cisgender youth. It also suggested anti-trans rhetoric relies on “scare tactics, stereotypes, and unwarranted claims that transgender women have a physiological advantage over cisgender women.”
This is the second anti-LGBTQ+ bill to have been introduced in Arkansas this year. The Medical Ethics and Diversity Act, otherwise known as Senate Bill 289, was voted in recently, and it rules that medical professionals are “not required to participate in a healthcare service that violates their conscience”. This means LGBTQ+ people could be refused healthcare without the practitioner facing any consequences. The Human Rights Campaign’s Arkansas state manager, Eric Reece, said the bill “is a blatantly discriminatory attempt to strip LGBTQ+ people of basic rights.”
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