On Thursday, Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson signed Senate Bill 354, which bans transgender women and girls from participating in school sports. The decision comes two weeks after Mississippi governor Tate Reeves signed a similar bill, which will go in effect on July 1.
The Arkansas bill was introduced in late February by attorney general Leslie Rutledge, who described the bill as a preemptive effort after president Joe Biden signed an executive order that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity in school sports.
“We don’t want common sense to be overshadowed by so-called political correctness, and this bill will ensure the integrity of girls and women in sports,” Rutledge said, per the Associated Press, while acknowledging that she was unaware of any instances of transgender athletes playing on school sports teams in Arkansas.