NC Family Staff | April 18, 2023 | SHARE: 
The N.C. Senate Committee on Education/Higher Education has approved a bill that would ensure the protection of female athletes and the integrity of girls’ sports in middle and high school grades in North Carolina. SB 631—Fairness in Women’s Sports Act was approved by the committee this morning and would ensure that interscholastic and intramural athletic teams are “designated by the biological sex of the team participants” as either male, female or coed. The bill also directs that “a student’s sex shall be recognized based solely on the student’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
NC Family Government Relations Associate Sharon Sullivan joined other bill supporters in testimony before the committee. “Girls and women deserve to compete on a level playing field, and this bill will ensure just that,” she said. “To pretend that there are no biological or physiological differences between boys and girls is simply ignoring science and truth. Even in middle school, young men have a physical advantage over young women before puberty begins.”
“Research also shows that girls who participate in sports develop leadership and motivational skills, are better team builders, and have the ability to see projects through to completion,” Sullivan told the committee. “They often stay in school longer, enter the labor force at higher rates, and are much more likely to land better jobs. In other words, girl athletes receive not just the benefits of sport participation, but also a return on the investment for their futures! Allowing biological males to participate in girls’ sports could rob girls of these positive benefits.”
Senate Bill 631 now proceeds to the Senate Rules Committee before being considered on the Senate floor.
A companion bill in the State House, House Bill 574, is scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary 1 Committee on Wednesday morning.
