Gov. Kristi Noem Signs Two Executive Orders Banning Trans Athletes from Female Sports
On Monday, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem issued two executive orders that will prohibit trans athletes from competing in female K-12 and collegiate sports.
As Christian Headlines previously reported, earlier this month, Noem called for a “style and form” revision of a transgender sports bill – the Women’s in Fairness Sports Bill – fearing that the legislation would lead to future litigation from the NCAA. According to The Blaze, the House of Representatives, however, rejected her proposal.
The Republican governor announced on Monday that she had issued two new executive orders in place of the vetoed legislation.
“Only girls should play girls’ sports,” Noem tweeted. “Given the legislature’s failure to accept my proposed revisions to HB 1217, I am immediately signing two executive orders to address this issue: one to protect fairness in K-12 athletics, and another to do so in college athletics.”
She added that she will be working with lawmakers “to schedule a special legislative session in late May or early June.”
“The special session will address this important issue, as well others (medicinal marijuana and the latest federal spending package),” she continued.
Additionally, I will be working with legislative leaders to schedule a special legislative session in late May or early June. The special session will address this important issue, as well others (medicinal marijuana and the latest federal spending package.) (2/3)
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) March 29, 2021
Both executive orders, one for K-12 athletes and the other for collegiate athletes, require students to prove their biological sex by presenting their original birth certificates.
Conservatives accused Noem of caving into the NCAA and other big businesses because she wouldn’t sign the first bill. But Noem’s communications director, Ian Fury, pushed back against her critics for misunderstanding her efforts.
“Apparently, uninformed cancel culture is fine when the right is eating their own,” Fury wrote in a scathing email to reporters last week.
“If conservative media would take 5 seconds to read past the knee-jerk headlines and actually understand Governor Noem’s position, they’d come to a very different realization,” he contended.
Last week, Noem announced the creation of DefendTitleIXNow.com, a multi-state coalition made to protect female sports from the inclusion of transgender athletes.
In an interview with radio talk host and Blaze founder Glenn Beck, Noem contended that a coalition would better elevate her chances to protect female sports against punitive action from the NCAA.
“I’m a small state. South Dakota is small,” she told Beck. “We have to fight hard to even get any tournaments or games in the state of South Dakota. And I recognize the NCAA can come in and crush me, and can make an example out of me, and point to South Dakota and say, ‘See, no other state better challenge us whatsoever’,” she said.
“So that’s why I’m trying to be smart about this and build a coalition of athletes, of states, of governors, of attorneys generals, and show the NCAA that we’re going to fight to make sure that only girls can play in girls’ sports,” she concluded.
Related:
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to Sign Bill Banning Trans Athletes from Women’s Sports
SD Gov. Kristi Noem to Launch Multi-State Coalition Protecting Female Sports from Trans Athletes
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Joe Raedle/Staff
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. He is also the co-hosts of the For Your Soul podcast, which seeks to equip the church with biblical truth and sound doctrine Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.
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