Boise State University is set to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA’s 2021 men’s basketball tournament, but Idaho’s recent law barring transgender athletes from competing in female sports could prevent that.
Hundreds of athletes, including Megan Rapinoe, Billy Jean King and Sue Bird, have signed letters calling on the NCAA to relocate any of its sponsored events in Idaho as long as the state’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act remains in effect, according to the Idaho Statesman.
“Transgender people belong everywhere — and that includes in sports and in Idaho,” ACLU campaign strategist Arli Christian said in a press release on Wednesday. “While the lawsuit against the state of Idaho moves through the courts, it is important for everyone to speak out so that Idaho — and the rest of the country — sees how misguided and dangerous this law is.”
In 2016 and 2017, the NCAA relocated multiple championship events that were scheduled to take place in North Carolina after that state passed its “bathroom bill” banning transgender people from using a bathroom other than one that corresponds with the sex on their birth certificate. The NCAA began allowing events in the state after the law was modified in 2017.
The last time Boise hosted NCAA Tournament games, in 2018, about 12,000 people attended each of the six first- and second-round games.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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