CHARLESTON, WV. (AP/WOWK) — West Virginia’s governor has signed a bill that bans transgender athletes from competing in female sports in middle and high schools and colleges. The bill was among 38 signed by the Republican governor on Wednesday.
It had narrowly passed the state Senate, which had added the college component, before being overwhelmingly approved in the House of Delegates. Justice said earlier this week that he would proudly sign the transgender bill despite warnings from some lawmakers that the NCAA could retaliate and decide not to hold college tournaments in the state.
The American Civil Liberties Union’s West Virginia chapter says it regrets that the governor signed the bill.
On April 14, 2021, Governor Justice said the following about the bill:
‘Personally I feel that absolutely, I just can’t get through my head that it is the right thing for us at a middle school level or a high school level in our state for me to not support the bill.”
The bill would ban transgender athletes from participating in school sports that don’t match their gender identity. It states that a birth certificate would be required upon admission to public school to confirm a student’s sex at birth.
This makes Justice the fourth governor in the US to allow such a bill to go into action. Other similar laws have gone into effect in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas.
