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Tuesday 15 augusT 2023

More states expect schools to keep trans girls off girls teams as

K-12 classes resume

Continued from Front LGBGT+ rights group Equal- sociation level.
ity Arizona. “Everyone is go- Supporters of the restric-
This year’s new restrictions ing through that process.” tions argue that they’re
are part of a larger wave She added: “For trans kids, protecting fair competition
of legislation across the U.S. it’s never been a walk in the and scholarship opportuni-
against transgender rights. park, but now they have ties for young women that
Republican legislators in this law to contend with on took decades to win. They
some states have banned top of everything else.” say that well before pu-
gender-affirming care for In Oklahoma, where a law berty, boys have physical
minors, restricted transgen- has been in place since advantages over girls in
der people’s use of school 2022, athletes or their par- speed, strength and lung
and public restrooms, lim- ents must file an annual af- capacity.
ited what public schools fidavit “acknowledging the “It’s a puzzlement to me
can teach about gender biological sex of the stu- that more people aren’t
and sexuality and barred dent at birth.” feeling sympathy for the
schools from requiring the Kansas and other states ex- girls whose sports careers Bill Faflick, the executive director of the Kansas State High School
use of a transgender stu- pect school officials to re- are ruined,” said Tom Activities Association, speaks during a meeting of its executive
dent’s preferred pronouns. view a child’s earliest birth Horne, the elected Repub- board, April 26, 2023, in Topeka, Kan.
The sports laws have been certificate if questions arise lican state school superin- Associated Press
imposed since 2020, and about an athlete’s eligibil- tendent in Arizona, who is took effect in 2021, its High month, it cited the longer
most are aimed at trans- ity. defending his state’s law in School Athletic Association distances Becky threw this
gender girls. A majority Bill Faflick, executive direc- federal court. had cleared 13 transgen- year as a reason. The state
cover less formal intramural tor of the Kansas State High Doctors, parents, and LG- der students to play in the said any time another girl
contests organized within School Activities Associa- BTQ+ rights advocates previous eight years. finished behind Becky in
a single school’s student tion, said his state’s law has counter that boys’ physical Becky Pepper-Jackson either event — more than
body as well as contests been greeted by a “mat- advantages come with a appeared to be the only 180 times — the other ath-
among different schools, ter of fact” acceptance in surge in testosterone during transgender girl seeking lete had been unfairly “dis-
and some restrict transgen- rules seminars for adminis- puberty — changes gen- to play girls’ sports in West placed.”
der boys as well. Almost all trators and coaches. der-affirming care blocks. Virginia in 2021 when the Jackson said the state
say other students and their “It has not been met with Critics also argue that then-11-year-old and her knows her daughter only
parents can sue schools any resistance and has not transgender athletes are so mother, Heather Jackson, “on paper,” and Becky im-
that don’t enforce the re- been met with any out- few that schools and asso- sued the state over its law. proved by training relent-
strictions. pouring of support or op- ciations governing school Because of their lawsuit, lessly at home with her own
Lawmakers expect a position, one way or the sports can handle their in- the West Virginia law is on equipment.
child’s earliest birth certifi- other,” Faflick said. dividual cases without a hold, and Becky, now a “As a parent, all we want
cate to determine which Even before the laws state law. 13-year-old entering eighth for our children is for them
sports teams they can join. against transgender girls on For example, in Kansas, the grade, threw the discus to be successful and hap-
Principals and coaches are girls teams passed, some State High School Activi- and the shot put in seven py, period,” Jackson told
expected to be the enforc- states largely blocked the ties Association recorded track meets this spring. The Associated Press. “That
ers. “Those are uncomfort- practice by handling ques- 11 transgender athletes The state is trying to per- should be an opportu-
able conversations,” said tions or concerns on a during the 2022-23 school suade a federal appeals nity for everybody, every
Jeanne Woodbury, interim case-by-case level at the year, and three were trans court to let it enforce its time, everywhere in this
executive director of the school or state athletic as- girls. Before Florida’s law law, and in a filing last country.”q

Illinois governor signs ban on firearms advertising

allegedly marketed to kids and militants

sponsibility Act, making Illi- ed by Everytown for Gun nifer Gong-Gershowitz, the
nois the eighth state to ap- Safety. bill's House sponsor, said
prove legislation that rolls "We hold opioid manufac- any companies participat-
back legal protections for turers accountable. Vaping ing in "depicting guns as
firearms manufacturers or companies accountable. tools for carnage" will face
distributors. The legislation Predatory lenders account- serious penalties.
comes after the deadli- able. Gun manufacturers Opening the door to such
est six months of mass kill- shouldn't get to hide from court challenges is part of
ings recorded in the United the law — and now, they ongoing efforts by Demo-
States since at least 2006 won't be able to," Pritzker cratic lawmakers in Illinois
— all but one of which in- said in a statement. and elsewhere to eliminate
Semi-automatic guns are displayed for sale at Capitol City Arms volved guns. The law took effect imme- gun violence, made more
Supply, Jan. 16, 2013, in Springfield, Ill. Pritzker signed the bill diately. complicated by the U.S. Su-
Associated Press alongside lawmakers and Attorney General Kwame preme Court's expansion of
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois ers who might later use the gun control advocates at Raoul, a key backer of the gun rights a year ago. Pritz-
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed weapons illegally — open- Gun Sense University, an law, said "by signing this ker also signed a ban on
a law banning firearms ad- ing the door for lawsuits annual training conference legislation, Gov. Pritzker has semi-automatic weapons
vertising that officials de- against firearms manufac- of more than 2,000 Moms taken an important step to this year, a law that gun-
termine produces a public turers or distributors. Demand Action and Stu- protect consumers and in- rights advocates continue
safety threat or appeals to Pritzker on Saturday signed dents Demand Action vol- crease public safety." to challenge in federal
children, militants or oth- the Firearm Industry Re- unteers and survivors, host- Democratic state Rep. Jen- court.q