Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the party is always right.
The unacceptable trampling of basic human rights, like competing in sports, must cease!
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday signed a law banning transgender women and girls from competing in school sports teams consistent with their gender identity, making the state the second to approve such a restriction so far this year.
The Republican governor approved the measure despite objections from medical and child-welfare groups that it would have devastating impacts on transgender youth. Hundreds of college athletes have also urged the NCAA to refuse to hold championships in states that enact such bans.
"This law simply says that female athletes should not have to compete in a sport against a student of the male sex when the sport is designed for women's competition", Hutchinson said in a statement released by his office. "As I have stated previously, I agree with the intention of this law. This will help promote and maintain fairness in women's sporting events".
The head of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ rights groups, called Hutchinson's decision "an affront not just to the transgender kids it is bound to hurt but to all Arkansans who will be impacted by its consequences".
"Hutchinson is ignoring the ugly history of states that have dared to pass anti-transgender legislation in years past, and by doing so he is exposing Arkansas to economic harm, expensive taxpayer-funded legal battles, and a tarnished reputation", Alphonso David, the group's president, said in a statement.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday signed a law banning transgender women and girls from competing in school sports teams consistent with their gender identity, making the state the second to approve such a restriction so far this year.
