CHEYENNE, Wyoming (LifeSiteNews) — The state of Wyoming has enacted a bill that will ban biologically male students from female sports.
On Friday, March 17, Governor Mark Gordon of Wyoming allowed a bill to become law, albeit without his signature, banning male public school athletes in grades 7-12 “from competing on a team designated for students of the female sex” in any interscholastic sport. This new legislation, which will come into effect on July 1, makes Wyoming the 19th state in the United States to enact a law regarding men in women’s sports.
However, despite choosing not to veto the bill, Gordon said in a letter to Wyoming’s Secretary of State, Chuck Gray, that he believed the new law to be discriminatory, with “victims on both sides.”
Gordon said that while he was willing to let the bill pass into law without vetoing it in order to avoid “these very divisive debates,” he said that he chose not to sign it because it would be “difficult” for him to “sign legislation into law that knowingly will cost the State and taxpayers money” in the form of lawsuits.
The bill has caused controversy among those who support society’s indoctrination of gender ideology, with activists speaking out against the new legislation. Sara Burlingame, executive director of Wyoming Equality, the largest “LGBTQIA+ advocacy” organization in the state, said in a comment to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that a lawsuit was allegedly in the making.
However, while some people and organizations have attacked the bill as “discriminatory,” even though it protects women from being discriminated against in their own sports, the American Principles Project (APP), a pro-family organization that fights against gender ideology, applauded the new law in a post on Twitter.
“This weekend Wyoming became the 19th state to pass legislation protecting a fair playing field for female athletes,” the organization tweeted on March 20.
This weekend Wyoming became the 19th state to pass legislation protecting a fair playing field for female athletes. 👏 pic.twitter.com/eFZk0080fF
— American Principles 🇺🇸 (@approject) March 20, 2023
The pro-family organization also shared a statement from Terry Schilling, the president of the APP, who praised the decision and criticized Gordon and others’ portrayal of the bill as “draconian” or “discriminatory.”
“It’s not at all ‘draconian’ or ‘discriminatory’ to limit girls’ athletics to girls,” Schilling said. “In fact, it’s simple common sense that polling shows most Americans agree with.”
“It’s unfortunate some of our leaders have been duped into believing such a policy is somehow controversial,” he added.
Wyoming is not the first state to bar biological males from participating in women’s sports. As previously reported by LifeSiteNews, in 2022, several states across the country passed bans on men competing in women’s sports, a controversy that rose to the spotlight due to gender-confused collegiate swimmer “Lia” Thomas. Last February, Arizona approved legislation that effectively bans gender-confused individuals from competing against the opposite sex from kindergarten through collegiate sports. South Dakota and Indiana passed similar bans.
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