South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem Friday pushed back on complaints that she returned a bill banning transgender girls and women from participating in female sports to the state Legislature because she was either weak on the legislation or because she was caving to opposition to the measure from the NCAA.
“Look at my history,” the Republican governor told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “Years ago, I fought on this issue. Years ago, the federal government tried to force the sport of rodeo to eliminate girls’ events and boys’ events and let all genders play in all sports. And I was the only one that fought them.”
She added that she stood alone without help from other members of Congress or governors on the issue, which came up when she was a U.S. representative.
“I won this fight with the USDA and allowed rodeo to still have girls being in girls’ sports and boys being in boys’ sports,” she said.
Last week, Noem said she sent the bill back for style and form changes. The measure, if passed, will require athletes participating in sports sanctioned in the state to compete in the events aligned with their sex that was determined at birth.
She said she does not want the new law to be extended to college sports, because the state could be hurt economically if events such as the NCAA championships are pulled, and she was “concerned that this bill’s vague and overly broad language could have significant unintended consequences.”
The bill calls for students participating in sports to submit statements that verify their age, sex determined at birth, and that they have not taken steroids for the 12 months before competing.
“Overall, these style and form clarifications protect women sports while also showing empathy for youths struggling with what they understand to be their gender identity,” Noem wrote. “But showing empathy does not mean a biologically-female-at birth woman should face an unbalanced playing field that effectively undermines the advances made by women and for women since the implementation of Title IX in 1972.”
Noem said Friday she’s “already proven myself on this issue and I’ve been working on this for many, many years.”
She said she’s also “surprised” that anyone could accuse her of being weak, considering her actions “during the year of COVID that we just went through.”
“I am literally the only governor in this country that never once mandated masks, never put anything on my people, such as shelter in place,” said Noem. “I didn’t even define what an essential business was, because I don’t believe that governors have the authority to tell you that your business is not essential. I went through that entire year being the only governor making the decisions that I was making and was strong enough to do that.”
But with the sports bill, she said she just wants to make sure that “we have a victory.”
“I understand getting into a fight, but I don’t want to fight just to fight. I want to fight to win,” Noem told Fox News. “I want to make sure that we really do push the NCAA down, we push big business down, and we really end up with a victory that allows us to really make sure only girls play in girls’ sports.”
Source: Newmax
