CONTACT GOVERNOR JUSTICE: Thank him for signing HB 3293! Click to contact Governor Justice now.
April 29, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Republican Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia signed a bill on Wednesday banning males, including those with gender confusion, from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.
The legislation, HB 3293, mandates that all sports teams sponsored by West Virginia public schools or higher education institutions be “expressly designated” based on biological sex.
“Classification of teams according to biological sex is necessary to promote equal athletic opportunities for the female sex,” HB 3293 states, adding that “biological males and biological females are not in fact similarly situated” in competitive sports.
“Biological males would displace females to a substantial extent if permitted to compete on teams designated for biological females,” it reads. The bill explicitly rejects athletic designations based on “gender identity,” saying they “serve no legitimate relationship to the State of West Virginia’s interest in promoting equal athletic opportunities for the female sex.”
Gov. Justice had said that he was “100 percent for the bill” and would “proudly” sign it, regardless of threats of retaliation by the NCAA against states considering bills to protect biological athletic standards. Major corporations such as Coors, IKEA, Instacart, Hilton, Lyft, Uber, and Pepsi likewise have pressured lawmakers to drop the legislation.
“It concerns me that we may miss out on a really important sporting event or something like that that could come to West Virginia,” Justice said upon signing HB 3293. “However, I think the benefits of it way outweigh the bad part of it.”
Bills banning gender-confused males in girls' athletics have been enacted this year by five other states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The Montana state house approved similar legislation, which has yet to be signed into law.
The wave of bills comes amid reports of gender-confused males jeopardizing female athletes’ safety and repeatedly depriving them of athletic opportunities. Studies have shown that male athletes retain substantial speed advantages, greater strength, muscle mass, and other competitive benefits even after using cross-sex hormones for more than 12 months.
The NCAA currently allows “transitioning” males to compete against females after using hormones for one year.
The state bills also come in the wake of an executive order by the Biden White House, signed on Inauguration Day, that appears to criminalize sex-based sports teams for children.
CONTACT GOVERNOR JUSTICE: Thank him for signing HB 3293! Click to contact Governor Justice now.