- Three North Carolina GOP legislators want to ban participation trophies for kids.
- The three representatives introduced a bill in the state House on March 30.
North Carolina lawmakers introduced a bill to ban giving children participation trophies for youth sports activities.
The three Republican state representatives — Sens. Tim Moffitt, Eddie Settle, and Bobby Hanig — introduced the bill, called Eliminate Participation Trophies, to the state senate on March 30.
The bill says that any award given to children for youth recreation activities must be based on identified performance achievements.
"Youth sports or other youth recreation activities operated under the authority of a local government shall not include awards for participants based solely on their participation in the sport or other activity," according to the proposed one-page bill.
Conservatives regularly rail against giving children awards for participation in an athletic activity rather than winning, and the sentiment dates back decades, according to Vice. An op-ed in an Ohio newspaper from 1922 called out the practice of giving trophies to everyone who participated in a high school basketball playoff, according o the outlet.
North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham announced her switch from the Democratic Party to the GOP on April 5, giving Republicans a supermajority in the state legislature and allowing them to override any vetos from the state's Democrat governor.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is a moderate Democrat, but he has clashed with state Republicans on issues such as abortion policy, voting rights, and gun rights.