Senate File 51, legislation that would ban transgender women and girls from competing on the sports teams that match their gender identity, passed its first hurdle in the Senate today.
The ACLU of Wyoming opposes Senate File 51. This bill violates both the United States Constitution and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which protects all students – including those who are transgender – from discrimination based on sex.
“Senate File 51 is not about leveling the playing field for student athletes. It’s about erasing and excluding trans people from participation in all aspects of public life,” said Antonio Serrano, ACLU of Wyoming advocacy director. “Extreme policies such as Senate File 51 are out of step with prevailing international and national norms of athletic competition. Inclusive teams that support all athletes and encourage participation should be the standard for all school sports.”
Senate File 51 was amended to create an appeals board that would hear appeals “on the issue of whether a student is being properly denied or should be denied participation on a team or in a sport designated for females.” But the Wyoming High School Activities Association already has a policy in place for transgender athletes. And the amendment doesn’t change the discriminatory nature of Senate File 51.
“It doesn’t matter what Senate File 51 ends up looking like,” Serrano said. “Senate File 51 has never been about leveling the playing field for student athletes. It’s been obvious from the beginning that this discriminatory legislation is about solving problems that don’t exist and, in the process, harming some of the most vulnerable people in our state.”
Legislation similar to Senate File 51 has been filed across the country in recent years and has been challenged in court. In 2020, a federal judge blocked Idaho’s law targeting transgender student athletes, recognizing that “it is not just the constitutional rights of transgender girls and women athletes at issue but … the constitutional rights of every girl and woman athlete in Idaho” and concluded that the law was based on nothing more than discrimination against transgender people. In 2021, a federal court blocked West Virginia from enforcing a law that bans trans girls and women from participating in school sports. Legal challenges are underway against similar laws passed in other states, too.
Additionally, last year’s presidential executive order on preventing and combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation states that “children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.” Because of this order, if Senate Bill 46 is signed into law, Wyoming will face a U.S. government that is actively enforcing Title IX’s protections against discriminatory policies targeting transgender students.
About the ACLU of Wyoming
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of civil liberties and civil rights. The ACLU of Wyoming is part of a three-state chapter that also includes North Dakota and South Dakota. The team in Wyoming is supported by staff in those states.
The ACLU believes freedoms of press, speech, assembly, and religion, and the rights to due process, equal protection and privacy, are fundamental to a free people. In addition, the ACLU seeks to advance constitutional protections for groups traditionally denied their rights, including people of color, women, and the LGBTQ communities. The ACLU of Wyoming carries out its work through selective litigation, lobbying at the state and local level, and through public education and awareness of what the Bill of Rights means for the people of Wyoming.
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