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Kristi Noem Introducing Women's Sports Bill Limiting Participation Based On Sex On Birth Certificate

"This is about fairness," Noem said in a statement provided to Fox News. "Every young woman deserves an equal playing field where she can achieve success, but common sense tells us that males have an unfair physical advantage over females in athletic competition. It is for those reasons that only girls should be competing in girls’ sports." 메이저사이트

Expected Tuesday, the bill would make good on a promise Noem delivered when she controversially vetoed a similar bill from the state legislature. It also raises questions about her previous objection to the state legislature's restrictions on participation at the collegiate level.

Noem had argued that unlike elementary and secondary school regulations, collegiate restrictions would create an unworkable patchwork for athletic organizations that operate at the national level. Nonetheless, she signed an executive order at the time stating that the board of regents "should" restrict participation in women's sports – omitting the type of binding language she utilized in another order for the state's department of education.

Both were designed as purported stopgap measures for the state until the next legislative session. South Dakota's legislature ultimately rejected the changes she proposed as part of her "style and form" veto, which lawmakers failed to override.

A draft bill obtained by Fox News showed Noem restricting athletic participation based on "biological sex," which it defines in reference to that which is identified on the student's birth certificate.  The new bill would go beyond Noem's executive order by mandating, rather than merely advocating, restrictions on collegiate athletic participation.

The State Capitol building in downtown Pierre in central South Dakota (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, File)

In a statement to Fox News, Noem spokesman Ian Fury indicated that other states' actions had made the collegiate measure more viable. Prior to Noem's veto, Idaho's governor had signed a similar ban. Since her veto, the governors of Florida, Alabama, West Virginia and other states have signed similar laws.

"Given HB 1217's problematic provisions, there was a higher risk of the entire bill being enjoined if South Dakota were to be sued by the NCAA. If that had happened, no girls in South Dakota would have been protected (at K-12 or collegiate level)," he said. "Now that other states have linked arms, as Governor Noem urged at the time, she is excited to protect girls' sports at both the K-12 and collegiate level, just as she's done with her executive orders."

The proposed bill could help heal a divide created by her veto, which critics portrayed as caving to entities like the National College Athletics Association (NCAA) and others that have taken a liberal stance on the issue.

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The Alliance Defending Freedom, a prominent conservative nonprofit, previously accused Noem of "gut[ting] protections for women athletes to placate [national] corporate interests."

"Gov. Noem proposed changes to House Bill 1217 that would eliminate protections for female college athletes outright and gut the ability for all women and girls to have recourse against unfair policies in women’s sports," said ADF attorney Kristen Waggoner in March.

Part of both Noem's new bill and the legislature's proposal include the ability of athletes to sue if they're adversely impacted by a violation of the restrictions on participation. They also offer educational institutions legal recourse if their compliance with the restrictions prompts retaliation from athletic organizations and other entities.