South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, left, and University of Pennsylvania male swimmer Will "Lia" Thomas | State of South Dakota / Penn Athletics
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, left, and University of Pennsylvania male swimmer Will "Lia" Thomas | State of South Dakota / Penn Athletics
While 24 of those states have state laws which ban the participation of boys in girls sports, Alaska bans it through state regulation.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill into law in 2022 that prohibits biological males from participating in female high school and college sports teams. The Associated Press reported that this was the first transgender athlete restriction to be implemented in 2022.
As of publication time, there are 25 states that allow boys to participate in girls’ high school sports: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
In April of 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn a lower court ruling that had blocked West Virginia’s enforcement of its law, signed into law in April 2021, that banned boys from participation in girls’ high school sports. Those court rulings are expected to be challenged.
In December 2022, a federal appeals court rejected a challenge to Connecticut’s policy of allowing boys to participate in girls’ sports. A lawsuit was filed in 2022 by three high school girls against the state’s policy, saying it was unfair. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the non-profit providing legal representation to the three girls, said it’s considering a challenge to the ruling.
“Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field,” ADF Legal Counsel Christiana Holcomb said. “Forcing them to compete against boys isn’t fair, shatters their dreams and destroys their athletic opportunities.”
There has been rapid growth in diagnoses of "gender dysphoria" in recent years, with a Reuters analysis of Medicaid findings that 42,000 children and teens in the U.S. received a diagnosis in 2021 – nearly triple the amount from 2017.
"Overall, the analysis found that at least 121,882 children ages 6 to 17 were diagnosed with gender dysphoria from 2017 through 2021," Reuters said.
A 2016 review in the Journal of Adolescent Health called children with gender dysphoria "singularly vulnerable" due to high rates of depression, self-harm and even suicide. The American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnosfic and Stafisfical Manual of Mental Disorders" says children are not fully capable of understanding what it means to be a man or a woman, adding that most questioning their biological sex eventually come to accept it and stop "identifying" as the opposite one.
The issue of gender dysphoria and school sports hasn't been limited to high school. In March 2022, University of Pennsylvania male swimmer Will "Lia" Thomas won the women's NCAA swimming championship in the 500-yard freestyle.
University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who tied with Thomas in the 200-meter freestyle event at those NCAA championships, called Thomas a “cheat.”
“Lia Thomas is not a brave, courageous woman who EARNED a national title,” Gaines tweeted. “He is an arrogant, cheat who STOLE a national title from a hardworking, deserving woman. The NCAA is responsible.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in April 2021 signed legislation banning boys from participating in girls’ sports, slammed Thomas' participation in women's events as an effort to "destroy women's athletics."
"The NCAA's actions serve to erode opportunities for women athletes and perpetuate a fraud against women athletes as well as the public at large," the proclamation read. "Florida rejects the NCAA’s efforts to destroy women’s athletics, disapproves of the NCAA elevating ideology over biology and takes offense at the NCAA trying to make others complicit in a lie."
| State | Boys Banned From Girls' Teams? |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Yes |
| Alaska | Yes |
| Arizona | Yes |
| Arkansas | Yes |
| California | No |
| Colorado | No |
| Connecticut | No |
| Delaware | No |
| Florida | Yes |
| Georgia | No |
| Hawaii | No |
| Idaho | Yes |
| Illinois | No |
| Indiana | Yes |
| Iowa | Yes |
| Kansas | Yes |
| Kentucky | Yes |
| Louisiana | Yes |
| Maine | No |
| Maryland | No |
| Massachusetts | No |
| Michigan | No |
| Minnesota | No |
| Mississippi | Yes |
| Missouri | Yes |
| Montana | Yes |
| Nebraska | No |
| Nevada | No |
| New Hampshire | No |
| New Jersey | No |
| New Mexico | No |
| New York | No |
| North Carolina | Yes |
| North Dakota | Yes |
| Ohio | Yes |
| Oklahoma | Yes |
| Oregon | No |
| Pennsylvania | No |
| Rhode Island | No |
| South Carolina | Yes |
| South Dakota | Yes |
| Tennessee | Yes |
| Texas | Yes |
| Utah | Yes |
| Vermont | No |
| Virginia | No |
| Washington | No |
| West Virginia | Yes |
| Wisconsin | No |
| Wyoming | Yes |
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