By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) – Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday signed into law a bill banning transgender girls from participating in female sports at public schools, joining a wave of similar measures emerging from Republican-controlled statehouses across the country.

According to supporters of the bill which will go into effect January 18, it will protect fairness and equity in school sports, by eliminating what they consider an inherent advantage physical of transgender players playing on women’s teams.

Advocates for equal rights decry these restrictions as discriminatory and “hate-based” measures. Their real purpose is to invigorate hard-core social conservators with very little evidence of trans women and girls dominating sports.

In a Republican-led nationwide campaign, since Idaho’s March 2020 ban on athletes being assigned male genders at birth, seven states have also passed similar laws.

A federal court has blocked enforcement of the Idaho ban pending the result of an appeal against the measure.

Alabama, Arkansas and Florida followed Idaho’s example, as did Mississippi, West Virginia, West Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, West Virginia, West Virginia, West Virginia and Montana. South Dakota’s governor took action by executive order. Some are also being challenged in court.

According to an earlier count by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), at least 35 bills to prohibit transgender youths from athletics were introduced in 31 states in this year. That’s up from 29 and 2 in 2020.

This transgender legislation marks the latest addition to a list of right-wing Texas legislative and Republican governor’s bills this year. They include new restrictions on abortion and voting as well as laws that eliminate the need to obtain a permit for conceal weapon carry.

Reporting and writing done by Steve Gorman, Los Angeles. Additional reporting by Kanishka S in Bengaluru. Editing by Peter Cooney.