Alabama has prohibited transgender women and girls from female sports teams in public colleges and universities, The Advocate reported.
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed House Bill 261 into law on May 30. The state has had a trans-exclusionary law for sports in K-12 public schools since 2021.
Alabama is one of almost two dozen states restricting trans students' participation in school sports, according to the Movement Advancement Project. Some of the laws ban all trans students from competing under their gender identity, while others affect trans females only.
In a statement, Human Rights Campaign Alabama State Director Carmarion D. Anderson-Harvey said, "By signing HB 261 into law, Gov. Ivey is actively taking part in the systematic attack against LGBTQ+ people. In just two years, she and extremist lawmakers in Alabama have passed four anti-LGBTQ+ bills. From dictating what bathrooms we can use to blatantly ignoring the actual problems in women's sports, these politicians are making Alabama an increasingly hostile place for transgender people and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. HRC will continue to fight state legislatures across the country that apparently think our rights are optional."
The release also noted that, earlier this year, the Biden Administration issued proposed rules affirming that Title IX protects trans students from discrimination in athletics and that state laws banning participation of transgender athletes violate federal law.
—Andrew Davis
