"That bill was going to become law, regardless of what I did, because I reversed my previous stance and comments calling such bans'discrimination'," said Governor John Bel Edwards.
The bill, which became law automatically, prevents students who are not "biologically female" from playing on teams that are for girls and women in public and state funded elementary and high schools.
The marker on the student's birth certificate determines their biological sex according to the bill text. The bill states that allowing trans girls athletes to compete on women's teams presents "cognizable harm to biological females."
The bill is called the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act" and it doesn't include rules for trans boys.
After vetoing a similar bill last year,Edwards has taken a different stance on the issue.
"Discrimination is not a Louisiana value, and this bill was a solution in search of a problem that doesn't exist in Louisiana," the governor said in a statement when he vetoed the previous bill. In Louisiana, the author of the bill acknowledged that there wasn't a single case where this was an issue.
After receiving similar legislation on his desk several times over the last two years, he said he believed it would become law regardless of what he did.
I allowed that bill to become law without my signature because I didn't think it was bad. In the press conference, he said his views on it had not changed. There hasn't been a single instance of a trans girl playing sports in Louisiana since that bill was first put on my desk.
Senate Bill 44 was going to become law even if I did not sign it or veto it. I think it's unfortunate, but we're here. I hope we can all get to a point where we realize that these young people are doing the best they can to survive.
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