Alabama Republican Governor Kay Ivey signed a law Friday banning transgender athletes from participating in K-12 sports, becoming the latest Republican-run state to enact restrictions on LGBTQ people, the Associated Press reports.
In announcing the bill, the governor’s office sent an email to schools telling them that the schools “may never allow a biological male to participate on a female team.” It made no mention of having transgender boys playing on a “female” team.
“HB 391 is nothing more than a politically motivated bill designed to discriminate against an already vulnerable population. By signing this legislation, Gov. Ivey is forcefully excluding transgender children. Let’s be clear here: transgender children are children. They deserve the same opportunity to learn valuable skills of teamwork, sportsmanship, and healthy competition with their peers,” Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement.
The Alabama House voted 74-19 for the bill. The Alabama Senate voted 25-5 for the legislation.
“I want to thank Governor Ivey for her leadership and for protecting the rights of Alabama’s female athletes. Standing up for what is right is not always easy, but it is always the right thing to do,” Republican State Representative Scott Stadthagen, the bill’s sponsor, said Friday.