On March 22, 2021, House Bill 358, the Save Women’s Sport Act, was introduced into the North Carolina General Assembly by representatives Mark Brody, Pat McElraft, Diane Wheatley and Jimmy Dixon.  This bill’s explicit purpose is to ban transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports.  This is similar to HB2 which banned transgender women from using women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. HB 358 is blatantly discriminatory and attempts to create a climate of fear of transgender women athletes dominating women’s sports where no such thing exists.

The language in the bill is inflammatory and harmful to transgender women and girls. It frequently compares transgender women and girls to cis gender men and insinuates that women are in danger because of transgender women. Additionally, this bill is a copy cat bill being proposed in several states such as Alabama and Montana that is being pushed by anti-transgender reactionary organizations through the site https://savewomenssports.com - a shadowy group that does not disclose it’s funding source or organization type. Other groups supporting this act on their Site includes the NC Family Policy Council, Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Policy Alliance - all right wing, reactionary organizations known for their discriminatory actions against the LGBTQ+ community.

The International Olympics Committee and the NCAA both have allowed transgender people to participate in sports as the gender they identify with for over a decade with no issue at all. If this bill becomes law, it will legalize discrimination against transgender women specifically and further drive them out of public. It will create lasting harm against a community that is already struggling for basic rights, and all for a non-issue. Both the Olympics and the NCAA saw that sports is a human right and that transgender people should be able to participate in sports as their gender. Show your support for the transgender community by signing this petition and opposing HB 358!