Newly proposed law could prevent transgender girls from playing sports with all girl teams

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Two bills coming up in the legislative session could keep trans girls, originally born a boy, from playing sports on all-girl teams.

Two Louisiana lawmakers, Rep. Beryl Amedee and Sen. Beth Mizell, are calling for the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.”

It’s a law they say would provide students a fair playing field in the realm of sports because biological girls would not be playing against biological boys. However, Louisiana Trans Advocates say that’s not necessarily fair to trans children.

“Most especially, like K-8th graders, right like kindergarteners this is a time where you are having fun, you are really just enjoying the sport, and the participation of it. To be able to take that away or make that even more of a barrier to access I don’t feel that’s right,” says Elliot Wade who is a board member for Louisiana Trans Advocates.

The bills, SB156 and HB 542, propose that it’s not fair for a child that is originally born a male to play on or against a team of biological females. Pointing to an Olympic study that show boys are scientifically stronger and faster, which provides a disadvantage for female teams.

However, Wade says most trans players don’t look at it that way, “I don’t think that it’s a problem that is wide spread as this legislation is making it out to be. I think that most trans athletes understand the situation, I don’t think that many of them are out to have some of malicious intent in competing in sports.”

Already LHSAA has guidelines that athletes must compete in categories according to the gender on their birth certificate.

While NCAA allows trans gender women to compete on all girl’s teams after they’ve finished a year of testosterone suppression treatment. Louisiana Trans Advocates argue that if this bill passes it will only ostracize children in the trans community.

Both bills also say that teams that are co-educational are meant for children who are biological boys and girls, completely leaving out trans children all together.

We did reach out to the author’s of these bills and they were unable to get back to us.

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