Grand Canyon Times

As a federal lawsuit challenges Arizona's law prohibiting boys from competing in girls' school sports, a new national poll finds the majority of Americans support such a prohibition.

“More than 6 in 10 adults in the Post-KFF poll said trans girls and women should not be allowed to compete in girls’ and women’s sports, including professional, college, high school and youth levels,” reported The Washington Post. 

The Grand Canyon Times reported last month that Arizona is one of 21 states to ban boys from playing  girls’ high school sports. In March 2022, then-Gov. Doug Ducey (R-Ariz) signed into law SB 1165, which prohibits biological males from competing in girls’ sports at the K-12 and collegiate levels.

Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, praised Arizona for "taking action in defending the integrity of women's sports.

“For the sake of fairness, women and girl athletes should not be forced to compete against males -- on this, the vast majority of Americans agree,” Schilling told the Grand Canyon Times. “This is why it's so important that many states, like Arizona, are taking action to defend the integrity of women's sports. Although the battle on this issue has just begun, the progress made so far should be encouraging to all those who oppose gender ideology and its terrible consequences." 

A lawsuit challenging Arizona's law was filed last month in the U.S. District Court in Tucson. When Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that she would not defend the state law, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced he was hiring his own legal team to defend against the lawsuit in court. 

Last week, Horne also submitted public comments in opposition to the Biden Administration's newly proposed rule that would amend Title IX to forbid U.S. schools and colleges that receive federal funding from enacting bans on boys participating in girls' sports. 

“The proposed rule submitted by the U.S. Department of Education would decimate girls’ sports in public schools and is contrary to the original intent of Title IX to provide a level playing field for women and girls to participate in team sports,” wrote Horne. “Leaving the decision to schools will result in those with ideological school boards permitting stronger boys to compete against girls.”

As of publication time, there are 29 states that still allow boys to participate in girls’ high school sports: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

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How many Americans support a prohibition on boys competing in girls’ sports?

Level of Sport	Should Not be Allowed	Should be Allowed
Youth Sports	62%	37%
High School Sports	66%	34%
College Sports	65%	34%
Professional Sports	65%	34%

Source: Nov. 10-Dec. 1, 2022, Washington Post-KFF poll of 1,338 U.S. adults with an error margin of +/- 4 percentage points.