Louisiana governor allows ban on transgender athletes to become law, despite previously describing the bill as 'a solution in search of a problem that simply does not exist'

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, testifies during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to examine offshore energy development in federal waters and leasing under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, in Dirksen Senate Office Building on Thursday, May 13, 2021.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

• A Louisiana bill banning transgender athletes from competing in womens' sports is now law.
• Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards didn't sign or veto the bill, allowing it to automatically become law.
• Edwards vetoed a similar ban calling it "a solution in search of a problem that simply does not exist."

Reversing his previous stance and comments calling such bans "discrimination," Democratic Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards allowed a ban on transgender athletes to become state law, saying "that bill was going to become law, regardless of what I did." 

The bill, which became law automatically after Edwards failed to either sign or veto it after 10 days, prevents students who are not "biologically female" from playing on teams designated for girls and women in public and state-funded elementary and high schools in Louisiana.

A student's biological sex is determined, according to the bill text, by the marker on the student's birth certificate "at or near the time of the student's birth." The bill does not specify how monitoring of students' sex will be enforced but asserts that allowing trans girls athletes to compete on women's teams presents "cognizable harm to biological females." 

Dubbed the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," the bill makes no similar rules for transgender boys playing on teams designated for boys and men.

Edwards' inaction comes as a distinct reversal from his previous stance after he vetoed a similar bill last year and strongly condemned such bans.   

"As I have said repeatedly when asked about this bill, discrimination is not a Louisiana value, and this bill was a solution in search of a problem that simply does not exist in Louisiana," the governor said in a statement when he vetoed the previous bill in 2021. "Even the author of the bill acknowledged throughout the legislative session that there wasn't a single case where this was an issue" in Louisiana.

In a Monday press conference, Edwards said his thoughts on transgender athlete bans have not changed, but after receiving similar legislation on his desk several times over the last two years, he said he believed "that bill was going to become law regardless of what I did." 

"I've allowed that bill to become law without my signature, not because I thought the bill was good. You all know my views on it haven't changed," Edwards said in the press conference. "In the year since that bill was first put on my desk, there still hasn't been a single instance in Louisiana of a trans girl participating in sports."

Edwards continued: "Senate Bill 44 was going to become law whether or not I signed it or vetoed it. And I think it's unfortunate but it is where we are. And I hope we can all get to a point soon where we realize that these young people are doing the very best that they can to survive."

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