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The Iowa law states: “Only female students, based on their sex, may participate in any team, sport, or athletic event designated as being for females, women, or girls.” The measure defines “sex” as the sex listed on a student’s birth certificate or adoption certificate “issued at or near the time of the student’s birth.”
While sex is a category that refers broadly to physiology, a person’s gender is an innate sense of identity. The factors that go into determining the sex listed on a birth certificate may include anatomy, genetics and hormones, and there is broad natural variation in each of these categories. For this reason, critics have said the language of “biological sex,” as used in this legislation, is overly simplistic and misleading.
At the bill signing on Thursday, Reynolds used transphobic language to justify the need for the ban, saying: “No amount of talent, training or effort can make up for the natural physical advantages males have over females. It’s simply a reality of human biology.”
“Forcing females to compete against males is the opposite of inclusivity and it’s absolutely unfair,” she said.
The law went into effect immediately after Reynolds signed it.
The debate over the inclusion of transgender athletes, particularly women and girls, has become a political flashpoint in recent years, especially among conservatives.
Last year, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia enacted similar sports bans, infuriating LGBTQ advocates, who argue conservatives are creating an issue where there isn’t one.
All these challenges have been brought with the help of the ACLU. CNN has reached out to the organization for comment on Iowa’s law.
The NCAA has come out in opposition to such bans, saying last April that it’s closely monitoring them to make sure NCAA championships can be held “in ways that are welcoming and respectful of all participants.”
Advocates tore into Reynolds on Thursday for her decision to sign the law, with the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that works on suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth, saying it “will have serious mental health impacts on” trans youth.
“Sidelining trans students will only contribute to social isolation and stigma that fuels bullying and mental health challenges for young trans people — issues they already face at alarmingly high rates,” Sam Ames, the group’s director for advocacy and government affairs, said in a statement.
The Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights groups, said the bill’s approval marks “a shameful moment in Iowa’s history.”
“With the stroke of her pen, and without even bothering to meet with transgender kids or their parents, Governor Reynolds has reversed years of progress and moved our state backwards,” said JoDee Winterhof, the Human Rights Campaign’s senior vice president for policy and political affairs, in a statement.
CNN’s Michelle Watson contributed to this report.