Louisiana Democrat Governor John Bel Edwards allowed a bill to become law without his signature on Monday that bans biological males from competing against biological females in sports.
Edwards vetoed a similar bill last year but decided to give up fighting against it this year because “of it’s overwhelming support in the House and Senate,” USA Today reported. “Louisiana’s Legislature passed the same bill last year by [Republican state Sen. Beth] Mizell, but was unable to overturn Edwards’ veto, coming up two votes short in the House.”
Edwards noted that “it was obvious to me after two years it was going to become law whether or not I signed or vetoed the bill.”
The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act requires “that schools designate intercollegiate and interscholastic athletic teams according to the biological sex of the team members” and that schools “provide that teams designated for females are not open to participation by biological males.”
Mizell (R-12), who has pushed for the legislation for two years, told USA Today, “Women have worked too hard for too long to get to the competitive level we have attained to now face an unfair playing field.”
Michael J. Joyner, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic, told The New York Times that there are “dramatic differences in performances” between males and females, which becomes clear “immediately as the testosterone surges into the boys” during puberty.
“There are social aspects to sport, but physiology and biology underpin it,” he said. “Testosterone is the 800-pound gorilla.”
The report from The New York Times noted that even though the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires a year of hormone-suppressing therapy to bring down testosterone levels in biological males who are trying to compete in women’s sports that the biological males “retain a substantial edge when racing against top biological women.”
“Lia Thomas is the manifestation of the scientific evidence,” said Dr. Ross Tucker, a sports physiologist, told the newspaper. “The reduction in testosterone did not remove her biological advantage.”
The newspaper noted that some professional transgender athletes, like retired tennis player Renée Richards, have reversed their views on having biological males compete in women’s sports.
“I know if I’d had surgery at the age of 22, and then at 24 went on the tour, no genetic woman in the world would have been able to come close to me,” she said in an interview. “I’ve reconsidered my opinion.”