The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana threatened to go after the state’s federal funding if it passed legislation protecting women’s sports by banning biological men who identify as women from participating.
“Montana could lose up to $484 million in federal education dollars if it passes HB 112,” the leftist group warned on Twitter. “That loss of funding will harm a lot of students.”
The ACLU of Montana (@aclumt) is claiming trans girls ARE girls, and they're using the Biden EO to threaten Montana with a $484 M loss in federal funding if they do not allow biological males into girls' sports. /1 pic.twitter.com/8FBUWVj3dp
— Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) January 27, 2021
The bill, introduced by Republican state Rep. John Fuller, protects women’s sports by barring biological men from competing in women’s leagues and was passed by the Montana House of Representatives on Sunday.
“If the ACLU, in devotion to a political agenda that would destroy the equal access to athletic opportunities wishes to punitively attack the women of Montana, they are admitting that they are no longer an organization devoted to equal rights,” Fuller told The Federalist.
The Montana ACLU capitalized on President Joe Biden’s executive order signed on his first day in office that effectively eliminated women’s sports, cutting off federal funding from institutions that bar transgender athletes from competing among the genders with whom they identify regardless of their biological sex.
Fuller, however, said his bill does not discriminate against anyone. “It is designed to protect the great societal gains accomplished by the passage of Title IX,” Fuller continued. “Science definitely establishes that sex is determined at birth and allowing males to compete as females will destroy female sports. Title IX established women’s sports precisely because they were shouldered aside by men in athletic opportunities until 1972. Men have hurt women enough; they don’t need to hurt their athletic opportunities.”
In response to Biden’s directive, Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube reintroduced his legislation mandating that schools comply with Title IX recognition of reproductive biology and birth genetics to categorize school sports between men and women.
This article has been updated to include a comment from Fuller.
