Politics- The bill would have only allowed children to play in
sports teams that matched their gender assigned at birth. - Gov.
Doug Burgum vetoed the bill Wednesday, saying there were enough rules in place. - Dozens of US states are voting on anti-trans legislation this year.
Under House Bill 1298, all K-12 schools in North Dakota would be banned from letting transgender boys or girl join gendered sports teams, unless the team matched the gender the child was given at birth.
Proponents of the bill advanced the idea that it was unfair for transgender girls to play on cisgender girls' sports teams. "It's about fair competition," Rep. Ben Koppelman, the bill's sponsor, told the Grand Forks Herald in January.
The bill passed on April 15, but Burgum struck it down Wednesday, saying there were enough rules in place.
The North Dakota High School Activities Association "already has regulations in place for participation in sex-separated interscholastic contests by transgender students," Burgum said, according to the Grand Forks Herald.
"North Dakota today has a level playing field and fairness in girls' sports."
NDHSAA regulations state that transgender boys "may compete in a contest for boys but is no longer eligible to compete in a contest for girls," but that transgender girls can play in boys' teams "but may not compete in a contest for girls until completing one calendar year of documented testosterone-suppression treatment."
Burgum also suggested that the bill was addressing an issue that did not exist.
"To date, there has not been a single recorded incident of a transgender girl attempting to play on a North Dakota girls' team," he said.
Burgum went on to note that because the bill would only apply to public and tribal schools, it creates further inequality. "The bill would unnecessarily inject the state into a local issue by creating a ban with myriad unforeseen consequences," he said.
States across the US are experiencing a wave of proposed legislation seeking to prevent transgender children from participating fully in school activities.
Bills to that effect have been tabled in more than two dozen states, according to a tracker from the American Civil Liberties Union.
In Arkansas, lawmakers have gone further. In late March, the state became the first in the US to pass a bill banning doctors from providing gender-affirming treatments, like top surgery or hormone treatment, to children.
In a statement, the ACLU said the North Dakota bill was nothing short of discrimination.
"House Bill 1298 was never about leveling the playing field for student athletes. It was obvious from the beginning that this discriminatory legislation was about creating solutions to problems that don't exist and, in the process, harming some of the most vulnerable people in our state," said Libby Skarin, a campaign director for the ACLU.
"We're thrilled with Gov. Burgum's decision to veto this bill."