South Dakota governor signs bill banning transgender girls from playing women’s sports

The law is likely to face legal challenges

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem signed an exclusionary bill on Thursday that bars transgender girls and women from playing on women's sports teams.

South Dakota is the first state to enact such a law this year and the 10th nationwide to impose such restrictions. Although the law is set to take effect from 1 July, it faces potential legal challenges.

Previously such laws were halted in Idaho and West Virginia by federal judges and in other states, the Justice Department has challenged bans as violations of federal law. Recently, a federal judge temporarily halted a rule from taking effect that would have made South Dakota one of the hardest places in the country to get abortion pills.

"This bill has been an important priority for a lot of the people behind me," Ms Noem said at the bill signing.

The governor added: “We will ensure that we have fairness and a level playing field for female athletes here in the state of South Dakota, at the K-12 level and at the university level.”

The Republican leader lobbied for the bill this year after she vetoed a similar bill in 2021 fearing legal challenges. She issued a “style and form veto” and argued that the legislation contained flawed language that put the state at risk of litigation and retribution from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCAA).

However, later in March last year she issued two executive orders that limited the participation of women’s and girls’ school sports teams to only those assigned female at birth.

The college athletics organisation reportedly adopted a sport-by-sport approach for transgender athletes last month that allows each sport’s national governing body to determine its policy.

The contentious legislation has been slammed by the opposition for being exclusionary towards transgender people. “At a time when young people are facing an unprecedented need for support, it is devastating to see politicians instead invent new ways to exclude them,” Sam Ames, the director of advocacy at The Trevor Project told The Associated Press.

On Tuesday, the South Dakota House also passed a bill that limits students from using bathrooms and locker rooms to one's sex assigned at birth.

According to a recent poll conducted by the Trevor Project, over two-thirds of LGBT+ youth said debates over state laws that target transgender people have negatively impacted their mental health.

The discriminatory law also acts as fodder for violence against transgender persons, which has been rising at a rapid speed. In 2021 at least 53 transgender or gender non-conforming people “fatally shot or killed by other violent means”, according to Human Rights Campaign, which has been tracking violence against the community since 2013.