On Monday Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law two anti-transgender bills, making Idaho the first state in the nation this year to enact them.
The bills are called the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act" and the "Vital Statistics Act. "Amid growing resistance to transgender ideology politically, the conservative state has adopted legislation banning transgender-identifying athletes from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates and another preserving woman's athletics as biologically female-only.
"Boys are boys and girls are girls," State Senator Lee Heider said after the bills passed through the Senate two weeks ago. "No doctor, no judge, no Department of Health and Welfare is going to change that reality." CNN reported.
Across the U.S., more than 40 bills were introduced this year targeting transgender youth. None of these bills have been enacted, and most have died according to postregister news.
Idaho Democrats are now blasting the governor's action as especially unnecessary given the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and claimed the laws will waste the state money to fight back the inevitable lawsuits.
"I am disgusted and disappointed that Governor Little has decided to waste valuable taxpayer money to fight court battles over issues that are not a priority to Idahoans. Our residents are losing their jobs, getting kicked out of their homes, and struggling to make ends meet. Instead of wasting state money to fight court battles that we have already lost in the past, we should be prioritizing taking care of our fellow Idahoans." Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise, said in a statement.
By contrasts, conservative activists and Republican are glad and support the governor's move.
"I applaud Governor Little for setting a precedent and standing up for females by signing the Fairness in Women's Sports Act. We should not force females to compete against males, it's that simple," said Beth Stelzer, founder of the nonpartisan Save Women's Sports, in an email to The Christian Post on Tuesday.
"Women and girls deserve sex-segregated sports teams and locker rooms. I believe this is the start of our government turning in favor of the truth; there are two sexes, they are immutable, and biological sex cannot be conflated with 'gender identity.'"
The sports bill would require high school-aged girls to prove their sex through a physical exam, DNA test or testosterone levels test in order to participate in high school sports, which can open the door for widespread abuse. Kathy Griesmyer, a policy strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union's Idaho chapter, said on CNN, "to think this is about helping girls, when we know it's subjecting girls to an invasive examination of their bodies at a vulnerable time of their development."
The science on the subject can be also inconclusive. "Many have wondered why one physical trait - testosterone level - is thought to be an unfair advantage, when many of the world's best athletes possess others - Michael Phelps's flipper-size feet, for example - that propel them to unthinkable world records," CNN questioned.
