Wed, Dec 13th, 2023 - 3:00pm
January 25, 2023 - 2:25pm | By Tom Tucker
(Fargo, ND) -- A republican state senator from West Fargo is sponsoring two bills in Bismarck that would restrict transgender girls and women from playing K-12 and college sports.
"i introduced a bill last session that had some similarities. I think the best way to describe these bills is that they're trying to undergird Title IV as it came into play in 1972 throughout the United States, and that was the movement to provide opportunity for women, and to give them they're own platform for competitions so that they didn't have to compete with men for recognition," said Ben Koppelman.
Koppelman is promoting House Bills 1249 and 1489. He says the bills are simply aimed at protecting athletic opportunities for girls and young women and ensuring fair competition. Opponents say such legislation is harmful toward transgender people, and would cause organizers of major sporting events to not host such events in the state. Koppelman says state's which have passed similar laws have not seen a drop in the number of such events.
"I mean I would love to not have to address this issue and just say common sense says girl's sports are girl's sports and boys sports are boy's sports," said Koppelman.
