An Alabama state representative is sponsoring a bill to require transgender students to compete in school sports under their birth gender.
Mobile, Alabama, Rep. Chris Pringle, is sponsoring the “Gender is Real Legislative (GIRL) Act” meant to restrict school sports to birth gender, AL.com reported.
“Gender is real,” Rep. Pringle said in a press release. “There are biological differences between boys and girls that influence athletic performance. The GIRL Bill seeks to support female student-athletes so that they may compete against each other and not have to compete against male students with an unfair advantage.”
The bill adds that the state’s schools would be barred from participating in any league or organization that allows biological boys to compete as girls in sports that are supposed to be exclusively for biological for girls.
The bill also prevents any government-owned or operated sports facility from allowing biological boys from competing as girls.
The bill would, though, allow transgender players in co-ed sports.
Rep. Pringle’s bill echoes similar bills being introduced in other states.
For instance, a bill was filed by Georgia Rep. Philip Singleton that bill aims to eliminate the “unfair advantage” transgender athletes might have over biological girls.
Like the bill in Alabama, the Georgia bill would bar transgender youth from competing under their assumed gender at any publicly supported sports facility.
In another case, a Tennessee lawmaker recently filed a similar bill, as did a Republican lawmaker in Washington State.
Similar bills affecting transgenders are proliferating across the country. A bill was introduced in Massachusetts that would bar mental health counselors from aiding kids to become transgender.
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