LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas lawmakers on Wednesday voted to expand the state’s new ban on transgender girls and women competing on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
The House voted 74-17 to authorize the attorney general to sue schools that violate the ban. The measure now heads to Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and his office said the governor planned to sign it into law.
Hutchinson last month signed the transgender athletes’ ban that allows schools or students that suffer “direct or indirect harm” to sue a school for violating the ban.
The proposal is among several restrictions on transgender people’s rights that have advanced in the Legislature this year. They include a measure banning gender-confirming surgery for transgender youth. Opponents vow to challenge that ban in court before it takes effect later this summer.
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