North Dakota Governor Vetoes Bill Blocking Biological Males From Playing On Girls’ Sports Teams

Republican North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum vetoed a bill Wednesday that would bar biological males from participating on girls’ sports teams.

The bill would block transgender females from playing on girls’ sports teams in elementary through high school. Burgum vetoed the legislation arguing that the bill was unnecessary, according to The Bismarck Tribune.

“North Dakota has fairness in girls’ and boys’ sports in large part because of the caring and thoughtful leadership of the North Dakota High School Activities Association (NDHSAA) Board and its members,” Burgum said in a message to Republican House Speaker Kim Koppelman explaining his veto. “We have every confidence they will continue to ensure a level playing field for the more than 27,000 students who participate in North Dakota high school sports.”

“To date there has not been a single recorded incident of a transgender girl attempting to play on a North Dakota girls’ team. Further, the NDHSAA already has regulations in place for participation in sex-separated interscholastic contests by transgender students,” Burgum continued.

An effort in the state legislature to override the governor’s veto may stick in the Senate. The House passed the bill with enough votes to override a veto, while the bill fell short of the two-thirds benchmark in the Senate.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, also a Republican, took heat earlier this year after she vetoed a similar bill in her state. Noem vetoed legislation that would have barred biological males from competing on women’s sports teams through college. Noem issued a “style and form” veto and sent the legislation back to the State Legislature with suggested changes, which they refused to accept.

The governor issued executive orders after the legislation died that blocked biological males from playing on girls’ teams in elementary through high school, and a separate order directing the state Board of Regents to “take any and all steps necessary within the law” of preventing transgender girls from playing on women’s sports teams.

The governor said she would work on legislation later in the year. “I will be working with legislative leaders to schedule a special legislative session in late May or early June,” she said in a tweet. “The special session will address this important issue, as well others (medicinal marijuana and the latest federal spending package.)”

After taking criticism from conservatives over her veto,  Noem spokesman Ian Fury claimed the governor was a victim of “cancel culture.”

“Governor Noem is very used to fighting off criticism from the left,” Noem spokesman Ian Fury said in an email. “After all, in the past year, she was the only governor in the entire nation to never order a single business or church in her state to close. The left bullied her incessantly, but she didn’t cave.”

“But if any number of conservative pundits are to be believed, that same governor who refused to cave is now caving to the NCAA and Amazon on the issue of fairness in women’s sports,” Fury continued. “What? Apparently, uninformed cancel culture is fine when the right is eating their own.”

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