Trans kids in Alabama are officially banned from playing sports that don't correspond to the gender they were assigned at birth

• A new bill passed Friday bans trans youth in Alabama from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity.
• The new ban applies to all sports teams across Alabama's public schools.
• The bill is the latest amid a surge of anti-trans bills being considered in state legislatures this year.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday signed a bill into law that effectively bans trans kids from participating in school sports that match their gender identity.

The bill mandates that trans youth attending public schools in Alabama only play on sports teams that correspond to the gender they were assigned at birth.

"A public K-12 school may not allow a biological female to participate on a male team if there is a female team in a sport," the text of Alabama House Bill 391 reads. "A public K-12 school may never allow a biological male to participate on a female team."

The bill says "biological males" have distinct advantages over "biological females" when it comes to sports and claims to be acting in a way that "promotes sex equality." Cisgender girls would have difficulty competing "on a fair playing field for scholarships and other athletic accomplishments," the bill says.

Human-rights groups have repeatedly debunked the idea that including trans athletes on sports teams hurts cisgender people.

The ACLU, for example, says the myth "reinforces stereotypes that women are weak and in need of protection."

"HB 391 is nothing more than a politically motivated bill designed to discriminate against an already vulnerable population. By signing this legislation, Gov. Ivey is forcefully excluding transgender children," Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement.

"They deserve the same opportunity to learn valuable skills of teamwork, sportsmanship, and healthy competition with their peers," David's statement continued. "Simply put, Alabamans deserve better than lawmakers who legislate against the health and safety of all kids for cheap political gain."

The Alabama bill is the latest amid a surge of anti-trans bills being considered in state legislatures across the country this year. Insider previously reported that 28 states are voting on anti-trans legislation in 2021.

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