IN OUR VIEW | Transgender Athletes: Arkansas AG bucks president with proposed legislation

In January, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that opened the door for transgender athletes to compete on women and girls' sports teams.

"Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports," the order stated.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is fighting back. She is proposing legislation that would ban anyone whose original birth certificate labels their gender as male from competing in female school sports.

The proposal, known as the Gender Integrity Reinforcement Legislation for Sports Act, applies to kindergarten through 12th grade. If schools violate the law, it could cost them state funding for a year.

Rutledge says allowing male-to-female transgender athletes naturally puts women and girls at a physical disadvantage.

"We don't want common sense to be shadowed by so-called political correctness," she said Monday.

We agree. One can argue all day about transgender rights, but there are biological differences that oftengive male-to-female transgender athletes an advantage when they compete against those who were born female.

We don't know if this legislation, should it pass, will survive court scrutiny. But we do know female athletes have had to overcome many obstacles over the years. They shouldn't have another thrown at them.

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