Alabama governor adds some needed #science to ESPN's headline on trans legislation

Doug P. | 5:34 PM on May 31, 2023

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey this week signed House Bill 261:

House Bill 261 expands on similar legislation for K-12 public schools that Ivey signed into law in 2021, and it requires two- and four-year public institutions of higher education to limit teams and competitions to “biological male” and “biological female” athletes. The legislation, which does not limit coed sports, effectively forces trans athletes to participate only in sports based on the gender they were assigned at birth.

“Gender they were assigned at birth.” In other words, basic biology:

✍️: I just signed HB261 to protect women’s sports in public colleges and universities.

If you’re a biological male, you are not going to be competing in women’s and girl’s sports in Alabama. It’s about fairness, plain and simple. #alpolitics

— Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) May 30, 2023

Here’s how ESPN framed the story:

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed legislation on Tuesday that will ban transgender women from playing on female sports teams in college.

This expands the state’s existing ban on transgender athletes on K-12 sports teams.

More: https://t.co/PTu8L4e1ac pic.twitter.com/6OrXTall4E

— ESPN (@espn) May 30, 2023

Governor Ivey then added some much-needed “science” to the reality of the situation:

Let me fix that, @espn.

*Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed legislation on Tuesday that will ban biological MEN from playing on FEMALE sports teams in college. #alpolitics https://t.co/aFda69PyyB

— Kay Ivey (@kayiveyforgov) May 31, 2023

And BOOM goes the “science” dynamite.

ESPN should be one of the first to say it is wrong for bio-men to compete against bio-women. Really should not be a debate.

— Cheryl Jean (@CherylJ11011655) May 31, 2023