Lawmakers in Tennessee and Arkansas on Monday passed legislation restricting the participation of transgender youth in sports.
Members of the House of Representatives in both states gave final legislative approval to a measure that mandates transgender athletes to compete in teams according to their gender assigned at birth, and not according to their gender identity.
Bills targeting transgender athletes are currently being discussed by lawmakers across at least 20 state legislatures, in what critics are calling the latest iteration of the political fight against LGBTQ equality.
FILE - Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee speaks to reporters Tuesday, Jan. 19, in Nashville, Tenn. Tennessee's GOP-led Statehouse has given final passage to a bill that would ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' sports. Tennessee House lawmakers voted 71-16 Monday, March 22, in favor of the measure and sent it to Republican Gov. Bill Lee's desk. (Mark Humphrey/)
According to The Tennessean, the state's Republican-led House passed the measure 71-16 on Monday. The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Bill Lee.
A spokesperson to the Republican governor said he will respect the legislature's decision. Last month, Lee said that allowing transgender women to compete according to their true gender would "destroy women's sports."
"The Governor has been clear about concerns around this issue and the negative impact on women's sports," his spokesperson, Casey Black, said.
LGBTQ rights groups slammed Senate Bill 228 as "discriminatory and unnecessary."
The president of the Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David, told the Daily News in an email that "SB 228 would sow fear and division and pose danger to transgender kids who are simply trying to navigate their adolescence."
If signed into law, student athletes would need to prove that their sex matches the one listed on the their "original" birth certificate to participate in public school sports in middle and high schools.
According to David, "Tennessee is inviting economic harm and legal challenges to the state like we've seen in other states that have passed anti-transgender legislation."
Earlier on Monday, a similar ban was approved by legislators in Arkansas.
The Associated Press reported that the majority-Republican House voted 75-18 in favor of the ban, and the bill was sent to Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Although the Republican governor hasn't officially said he'd sign the bill into law, on Monday he expressed that he supported the bill's objective.
© Stephen GrovesFILE - Advocates for transgender people march from the South Dakota governor's mansion to the Capitol in Pierre, S.D., on Thursday, March 11, to protest a proposed ban on transgender girls and women from female sports leagues.
FILE - Advocates for transgender people march from the South Dakota governor's mansion to the Capitol in Pierre, S.D., on Thursday, March 11, to protest a proposed ban on transgender girls and women from female sports leagues. (Stephen Groves/)
"Transgender and nonbinary youth want nothing more than to be loved and respected for who they are. Yet, rejection and victimization have put these youth at significantly increased risk for suicide," Sam Brinton, VP of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project, told the Daily News in a statement.
In a study published last year, the organization - which is focused on suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ and questioning youth - found that trans and nonbinary youth who report experiencing discrimination based on their gender identity "had more than double the odds of attempting suicide in the past year compared to those who did not experience gender identity-based discrimination."
Still, bills that specifically restrict the rights of transgender and nonbinary youth, are currently advancing out of state legislatures.
Earlier this month Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, signed a similar bill into law. SB 2536 is set to become law on July 1.
The governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, tweeted on March 8 that she was "excited" to sign a bill banning transgender girls and women from participating in sports teams that correspond to their gender identity.
House Bill 1217 was passed by the state Senate by a 20-15 vote earlier this month. But the Republican governor has since suggested that the bill should not apply to college sports.
Idaho's House Bill 500 was signed into law by governor Brad Little in April 2020, but it currently faces a legal review in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.