PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota Senate committee has dismissed a proposal to bar transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports leagues.
The bill had passed the House, with some Republican lawmakers casting the ban as a way to protect equal opportunities for women in sports. But there are currently no transgender athletes participating in female high school sports, according to the high school activities association.
A Senate committee agreed with the high school activities association’s argument that its current policy of evaluating applications from transgender athletes on a case-by-case basis is working, and that the legal and financial consequences of passing such a ban were unnecessary.
