Wyoming Makes Major Victory to Protect Women’s Sports From Transgender Athletes

Last Friday, Wyoming passed a bill that effectively bans biological men from competing in women’s sports — becoming the 19th state to implement such a ban. While Governor Mark Gordon expressed skepticism of some of the bill’s tenets, he allowed the bill to go into law without the benefit of his signature. As a result, the law is scheduled to go into effect on July 1 of this year.

The bill, titled the Student Eligibility in Interscholastic Sports Act, states, “a student of the male sex shall not compete, and a public school shall not allow a student of the male sex to compete, in an athletic activity or team designated for students of the female sex.”

Building upon that, the bill also prohibits, “a school from permitting males to train or practice with an interscholastic athletic activity that is designated for females so long as no female is deprived of a roster spot on a team or sport, opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, scholarship, admission to an educational institution or any other benefit that accompanies participating in the interscholastic athletic activity.”

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Governor Gordon (R-WY) expressed his hesitations over the bill in a letter to Secretary of State Chuck Gray. In the letter, he urged the legislature to “consider policies that promote inclusion and inclusivity for all individuals,” — claiming the issue has “two sides.”

“While I support and agree with the overall goal of fairness in competitive female sports, I am concerned that the ban included in this legislation is overly draconian, is discriminatory without attention to individual circumstances or mitigating factors, and pays little attention to fundamental principles of equality,” Gordon wrote.

Wyoming joins a growing list of states banning biological men from participating in women’s athletics. As the DC Enquirer reported last month, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott (R-TX) announced a new plan to implement a similar policy in Texas, saying, “this next session, we will pass a law prohibiting biological men to compete against women in college sports.”