Though he vetoed similar legislation in 2021, Governor Doug Burgum (R) last month signed a pair of bills protecting women's sports. Mark Jorritsma, executive director of the North Dakota Family Alliance, tells AFN there has never been a single gender-confused male who has asked to play on a girls' team in The Peace Garden State, but it is only a matter of time.
"I think North Dakotans finally have gotten to that point that even though it may not have happened in North Dakota, that doesn't mean you don't anticipate that it will almost certainly end up happening in the not-too-distant future," Jorritsma relays.
Opponents claim the measures are an attack on transgendered students, but Jorritsma says his organization is clearly not the only one to see through that. Presently, North Dakota Family Alliance's Facebook post breaking the news that Gov. Burgum had signed both girls' fairness in sports bills has garnered more than 2,500 reactions and 238 shares.
Jorritsma says that is the most positive feedback his organization has ever enjoyed on the social media platform.
HB 1249 pertains to K-12 schools, and HB 1489 extends the same protections in higher education. And with the governor's signature on them both, North Dakota is the 21st state to ban males from females' sports teams.
On the national stage, House Republicans this week approved the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act to bar men from competing on women's sports teams at any federally funded school or college in the U.S. However, not a single Democrat supported the effort, and it is unlikely to advance any further in the Democratic-led Senate. The White House has said President Biden would veto it.
