Alabama expands ban on trans athletes to include college teams

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill on Tuesday that prohibits transgender women to play on female college sports teams. She is the latest state in the country to restrict transgender athletes.

The bill extends the existing ban of 2021 on transgender athletes in K-12 teams to college teams. Students who are born with a certain gender would not be allowed to play under a new identity even after hormone therapy.

“Look, as a male by birth, you will not be able to compete in sports for women and girls in Alabama. Ivey stated in a press release that it’s all about fairness.

This bill is part a wave that conservative states are pushing to restrict transgenders. Transgender athletes are now restricted in at least 20 states, either on the K-12 level or at the collegiate level.

Supporters of the bill claim that transgender women are at a disadvantage in the workplace. Opponents say it is about stigmatizing transgenders and has its roots in politics and discrimination.

Carmarion D. Andersen-Harvey is the Alabama State Director of Human Rights Campaign. This advocacy group works with LGBTQ people. She said that the legislation was part of “a systematic attack against LGBTQ+ individuals” in Alabama as well as elsewhere.

In just two years she and extremist legislators in Alabama passed four anti LGBT+ bills. These politicians, from dictating which bathrooms we can use to blatantly disregarding the actual problems with women’s sport, are making Alabama a hostile place for the LGBTQ+ and transgender community.

Alabama lawmakers have approved bills that restrict bathroom and locker-room usage, and ban the use of hormones to promote gender identity and block puberty in transgender children. The medication ban has been temporarily blocked by a judge while the court case is being pursued.

The new sports bill passed with overwhelming support in both chambers. It was passed by the Alabama Senate 26-4 and the House of Representatives 83-5. Over a dozen House Members abstained.