Alabama Extends Existing Ban on Transgender Athletes from K-12 to Colleges and Universities

Alabama broadened its ban on transgender women playing on female sports teams to include college sports.

Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the legislation on Tuesday that extends the state's existing 2021 prohibition against transgender athletes on K-12 sports teams to two- and four-year public institutions.

“Look, if you are a biological male, you are not going to be competing in women’s and girls’ sports in Alabama. It’s about fairness, plain and simple,” Ivey said in a statement.

The legislation also blocks athletic associations, government agencies and accreditation organizations from filing a complaint or launching an investigation into a school that complies with the law.

It also allows students who claim they were harmed or deprived of an athletic opportunity to sue the school.

Carmarion D. Anderson-Harvey, Alabama state director of the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for LGBTQ+ people, criticized the legislation passed in Alabama and elsewhere.

“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,” he told the Associated Press.

Alabama joins about 20 other conservative states that have placed restrictions on transgender athletes competing in grades K through 12 or in college, or both.