Republican lawmakers in seven states introduced nine measures this week restricting transgender people from participating in women's sports, receiving hormone blockers before adulthood or using women's restrooms, according to NBC News.
The bills were proposed in Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Hampshire and South Dakota.
Supporters of the measures argue that they will prevent underage people from making permanent medical decisions regarding their bodies, protect fair competition in women's sports, and ensure safety in private spaces such restrooms and locker rooms.
''It is unfortunate that we see this as removing the rights of any people,'' Republican state Rep. Rhonda Milstead, who introduced a transgender sports prohibition in South Dakota this week, told NBC. ''If competitive sports are made to be fair, there is a place for everyone to compete according to the biology they were born with.''
Rep. Fred Deutsch, a fellow South Dakota Republican, recently introduced a bill to block transgender kids from using multi-occupancy shower rooms, restrooms and locker rooms.
Deutsch said he proposed his bill because ''laws and policies'' across the country are being changed to redefine the ''material reality of sex.''
''This bill is designed to ensure that, at least in South Dakota, we maintain a definition of sex that actually reflects reality,'' he told NBC.
Left-leaning national organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign and the National Women's Law Center have publicly spoken out against the measures, according to NBC.
''Unfortunately, I think we're getting ready to watch a race to the bottom among legislators who are in a competition to see who can do the most harm to trans kids,'' said Gillian Branstetter, NWLC media manager. ''It is a hostile and dangerous trend that I'm sure we'll see continue through the year.''
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