South Carolina GOP Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law on Monday a bill that prohibits transgender students from playing on girls’ or women’s sports teams at public schols and colleges in the state.
The bill, known as the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” requires transgender athletes to compete in sports on a team based on the sex specified on their birth certificate.
In an interview earlier this month, the Governor said “I think the girls ought to play girls and the boys ought to play boys. That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
When pressed if he meant “biological” boys, McMaster responded “are there any other kind?”
Earlier this year, biological male athlete Will "Lia" Thomas competed on the women's swim team at the University of Pennsylvania and won races competing against biological women.
In March, Townhall covered how Thomas gave an exclusive interview to Sports Illustrated. In the interview, Thomas said “I’m a woman” and doubled-down on competing against biological females.
“The very simple answer is that I’m not a man,” Thomas said in the interview. “I’m a woman, so I belong on the women’s team.”
However, Matt covered earlier this year how an anonymous female UPenn swimmer said in an interview that Thomas makes the locker room “awkward” because “Lia still has male body parts and is still attracted to women.”
Following this controversy, several other states have enacted legislation in recent months similar to South Carolina’s to protect women’s sports. This includes Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.
On the other hand, two Republican governors and one Democratic governor came out against legislation protecting women’s and girls’ sports. GOP Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and GOP Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed similar legislation passed by their state’s legislature. As Townhall covered, Utah lawmakers overturned Cox's veto. Shortly after, Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed legislation, citing the same concerns over the legislation as Holcomb and Cox.