Lawmakers in North Dakota, US, have proposed a bill which would prevent high school and college athletes from participating in sports under any sex other than the one on their birth certificate, thus prohibiting trans students from competing in the category which aligns with their gender identity. House Bill 1298 would prevent publicly-funded institutions, such as educational facilities, from allowing any “individual who was assigned the opposite sex at birth to participate on an athletic team…[which is designed] exclusively for females or exclusively for males.”
According to Inforum, the bill’s lead sponsor, state representative Ben Koppelman, insisted the regulations have “nothing to do with transgender athletes” and are to ‘improve fairness in sports’, particularly for women. He said: “I kind of dismiss the idea that it should be about trans because it’s not about trans. It’s about fair competition…What it’s based on is science that says, ‘Here are the physiological differences between people when they are born.’ And these are irreversible things.” Senator Janne Myrdal, a co-sponsor of the bill, agreed with Koppelman, and said she supports it out of concern for women’s rights in sports.
However, LGBTQ+ activists are concerned about the bill and argue it is directly aimed at trans students. Rebel Marie, counsellor and vice president of local youth support group, Tri-State Transgender, said it could have negative consequences for the mental health of trans youth: “I know that this will cause young people to feel suicidal because it will remove them from teams they’ve either [aspired] to be a part of or were already a part of.”