PIERRE, S.D.(Press Release)- Trans people belong everywhere – including sports. But does that mean that trans people should be used in a game of political football?

Gov. Kristi Noem and eight of her fellow Republican governors are urging the NCAA to rewrite its Transgender Student Athlete Policy in a letter sent yesterday to the NCAA’s Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.

The ACLU of South Dakota condemns this letter, calling it little more than political grandstanding.

The following statement can be attributed to Samantha Chapman, ACLU of South Dakota advocacy manager:

“Whatever Gov. Noem and this letter’s cosigners might say, this isn’t about leveling the playing field for student athletes or protecting fairness in women’s sports. If it were, these governors would be tackling the actual threats to women’s sports such as severe underfunding, lack of media coverage, sexist ideologies that suggest that women and girls are weak, and pay equity for coaches and players.

“This letter to the NCAA is just another attempt to erase transgender people from society while stirring up support from their base of anti-trans activists with fear-mongering tactics and discriminatory rhetoric that harm some of the most vulnerable people in our state.”