SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s ban on transgender athletes taking part in highschool sports that don’t align with their gender id is “fully in effect,” Utah’s House speaker stated, after plaintiffs difficult the legislation agreed to have their lawsuit dismissed.
The ban, passed in 2022, has been on hold for years pending the decision of the lawsuit, introduced by a number of nameless athletes who claimed it violated their civil rights. While that legislation was paused, a state fee has been tasked with figuring out eligibility for transgender athletes who search to take part.
“Big news for Utah!! HB11 … which we passed in 2022, is now fully in effect as the law in Utah,” Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said on social media. “Biological males will no longer be able to compete in girls’ sports, the Athletic Eligibility Commission will be dissolved and eligibility for girls’ sports will once again be based on sex at birth.”
Schultz praised former GOP Rep. Kera Birkeland for sponsoring the controversial invoice, saying it “wasn’t easy, but it was the right thing to do” and calling the lawsuit’s dismissal “a major win for fairness, safety and the preservation of women’s sports in Utah.”
The households of the 2 athletes and the Utah High School Activities Association entered right into a stipulation settlement to dismiss the case with prejudice, which means it may possibly’t be refiled, in accordance to court docket paperwork filed Monday.
An rationalization for the dismissal was not given, however it comes after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear similar cases from different states, which might in the end decide the legality of transgender athlete bans nationwide. Idaho and West Virginia appealed decrease court docket rulings on similar bans of their states, which sided with transgender college students, and the excessive court docket will hear arguments throughout the time period that simply started; a ruling is anticipated subsequent summer season.