Big Sky Times

Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, said protecting girls’ sports is widely supported by American voters, and Montana legislators can continue to support legislation to do so without concern for public approval.

“Americans fought hard to extend equal opportunities in sports, education, and society to women for decades,” Schilling told Big Sky Times. “Protecting the integrity of girls' sports isn’t just about protecting their opportunities to compete and earn scholarships — it’s about protecting their physical safety too.”

“The good news for politicians is that the American voters support protecting girls' sports with serious majorities,” Schilling said. “This is one of the few areas where politicians don’t have to choose between good politics or good policy. We have more to go on in terms of protecting Americans from the $4.1b trans industry but protecting girls' sports is the perfect place to start.”

As President Biden revealed new rules regarding Title IX protections in April of 2024 which redefined “sex” to include “gender-identity,” and would require U.S. schools and colleges to include males who identify as females in female specific spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms, an analysis by the Big Sky Times shows that Montana is one of 25 states that ban boys from playing in girls' high school sports.

While 24 of those states have state laws which ban the participation of boys in girls sports, Alaska bans it through state regulation.

In 2021, Gov. Greg Gianforte approved legislation that prohibits transgender athletes from taking part in school and college sports teams based on their gender identity, rather than their biological sex. This move by Montana followed the trend of several other states controlled by Republicans that have passed similar measures, according to The Associated Press.

As of publication time, there are 25 states that allow boys to participate in girls’ high school sports: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

In April of 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn a lower court ruling that had blocked West Virginia’s enforcement of its law, signed into law in April 2021, that banned boys from participation in girls’ high school sports. Those court rulings are expected to be challenged.

In December 2022, a federal appeals court rejected a challenge to Connecticut’s policy of allowing boys to participate in girls’ sports. A lawsuit was filed in 2022 by three high school girls against the state’s policy, saying it was unfair. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the non-profit providing legal representation to the three girls, said it’s considering a challenge to the ruling.

“Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field,” ADF Legal Counsel Christiana Holcomb said. “Forcing them to compete against boys isn’t fair, shatters their dreams and destroys their athletic opportunities.”

There has been rapid growth in diagnoses of "gender dysphoria" in recent years, with a Reuters analysis of Medicaid findings that 42,000 children and teens in the U.S. received a diagnosis in 2021 – nearly triple the amount from 2017.

"Overall, the analysis found that at least 121,882 children ages 6 to 17 were diagnosed with gender dysphoria from 2017 through 2021," Reuters said.

A 2016 review in the Journal of Adolescent Health called children with gender dysphoria "singularly vulnerable" due to high rates of depression, self-harm and even suicide. The American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnosfic and Stafisfical Manual of Mental Disorders" says children are not fully capable of understanding what it means to be a man or a woman, adding that most questioning their biological sex eventually come to accept it and stop "identifying" as the opposite one.

The issue of gender dysphoria and school sports hasn't been limited to high school. In March 2022, University of Pennsylvania male swimmer Will "Lia" Thomas won the women's NCAA swimming championship in the 500-yard freestyle.

University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who tied with Thomas in the 200-meter freestyle event at those NCAA championships, called Thomas a “cheat.”

“Lia Thomas is not a brave, courageous woman who EARNED a national title,” Gaines tweeted. “He is an arrogant, cheat who STOLE a national title from a hardworking, deserving woman. The NCAA is responsible.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in April 2021 signed legislation banning boys from participating in girls’ sports, slammed Thomas' participation in women's events as an effort to "destroy women's athletics."

"The NCAA's actions serve to erode opportunities for women athletes and perpetuate a fraud against women athletes as well as the public at large," the proclamation read. "Florida rejects the NCAA’s efforts to destroy women’s athletics, disapproves of the NCAA elevating ideology over biology and takes offense at the NCAA trying to make others complicit in a lie."

State	Boys Banned From Girls' Teams?
Alabama	Yes
Alaska	Yes
Arizona	Yes
Arkansas	Yes
California	No
Colorado	No
Connecticut	No
Delaware	No
Florida	Yes
Georgia	No
Hawaii	No
Idaho	Yes
Illinois	No
Indiana	Yes
Iowa	Yes
Kansas	Yes
Kentucky	Yes
Louisiana	Yes
Maine	No
Maryland	No
Massachusetts	No
Michigan	No
Minnesota	No
Mississippi	Yes
Missouri	Yes
Montana	Yes
Nebraska	No
Nevada	No
New Hampshire	No
New Jersey	No
New Mexico	No
New York	No
North Carolina	Yes
North Dakota	Yes
Ohio	Yes
Oklahoma	Yes
Oregon	No
Pennsylvania	No
Rhode Island	No
South Carolina	Yes
South Dakota	Yes
Tennessee	Yes
Texas	Yes
Utah	Yes
Vermont	No
Virginia	No
Washington	No
West Virginia	Yes
Wisconsin	No
Wyoming	Yes