On Thursday, GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law that would protect women’s sports at the collegiate level from biological male athletes who identify as transgender women.
The law, S.B. 15, known as the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” requires athletes at the college level to compete in sports that align with their biological sex instead of their “gender identity.” This legislation will go into effect in September and allows individuals to sue institutions that allow transgender athletes to compete on teams that align with their gender identity.
“Women’s sports are being threatened,” Abbott said when he signed the bill into law. “Some women are being forced to compete against biological men.”
I signed a law in 2021 to stop biological boys competing in girls’ sports at the K-12 level.
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) June 15, 2023
Today, we expanded that protection to women’s collegiate sports.
I thank Rep. Swanson & Sen. Middleton for bringing the Save Women's Sports Act to my desk. https://t.co/H1YJyZnDzi pic.twitter.com/Wnq0MsWvZu
In 2021, Texas signed a bill into law that protected women’s and girls’ sports throughout K-12 schools. Over 20 other states have created legislation aimed at protecting women’s sports from male athletes, just as many states are signing bills into law that prohibit minors from accessing irreversible transgender surgeries and hormone treatments.
Last month, Townhall covered how Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed legislation prohibiting male-bodied athletes from competing in women’s sports if they identify as transgender.
"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 about the law.
Republican State Rep. Susan DuBose, the bill's sponsor, said that "no amount of hormone therapy can undo all those advantages" of being born male.
In recent years, as Townhall has covered, biological males who claim to identify as “trans women” have competed in women's sports and robbed them of awards and opportunities. One, in particular, was Will "Lia" Thomas, who competed on the University of Pennsylvania's women's swim team last year after competing on the men's team for three years. Thomas won races against women and took home an NCAA Division I Title, which Townhall covered. Female college athletes, like Riley Gaines, were forced to compete against Thomas and share a locker room with him.