Nashville, TN — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has received a lot of scrutiny for her failure to sign a Republican-led bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing in sports outside the gender of their birth. Left-wing media outlets have celebrated her move to “protect” a transgender’s rights to compete in the sport of the gender they choose. Article after article shares how she has angered the conservative base because she was not “intolerant” like the rest of conservatives.
The truth is this is not about tolerance at all. If this was about tolerance, then the governor could have set up not just boys and girls sports, but also a transgender sports classification for them to compete with others who have fallen into the liberal deception about a right to choose their gender. This is about forcing a liberal viewpoint onto those who are not naive about gender assignment and choice.
Unfortunately, Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) fell into the liberal trap that was set regarding transgender sports. She had admitted she was excited to sign the bill in a tweet earlier this month. Now, she claims that we have to trust her because she asked for revisions to a bill she deemed would fail in court. Some legal experts have said that it was simply a misleading statement in order to protect her.
The fact is that Kristi Noem did cave to the NCAA and the potential to protect women’s sports. She destroyed her chances to be a political leader in the movement that former President Donald Trump had started. It is too bad because she showed a lot of promise for the future.
Three other governors were not scared of the NCAA and the big money that they claim to bring to the table. The Mississippi Governor signed his state’s bill into law earlier this month. The Arkansas Governor signed his state’s bill on Thursday. The Tennessee Governor signed his states on Friday. Do you see how easy that was Gov. Noem?
While the bills may vary in their context, each of them is certain to face legal process in court, just like the bill from South Dakota would have if signed. The Left will simply not let any of these bills pass without challenge. Noem obviously knew that as she cited it as one of the reasons for refusing to sign her state’s bill.
What she underestimated is the movement of people that support such measures. She underestimated, just like those on the Left, how powerful the movement that former President Donald Trump started was in the focus to protect women’s sports.
In the end, she did not care. In the end, she has proved that she was more interested in her own political aspirations than in doing the right thing. She had become a star-traveling around the country headlining conservative speaking events. She was given time on the main stage at CPAC as a conservative leader. That looks like a mistake now given Noem’s actions on this bill.
Do you know three names that do not appear on the CPAC list that probably should have been? The governors from Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Those three governors listened to the conservatives and the movement that they created. They listened to the desire to protect women’s sports and to reject this ridiculous left-wing message of “tolerance” that is really more of a message of force.
These three governors were not scared to stand in the face of the lawsuits and left-wing criticisms. Gov. Kristi Noem was, however. She claimed that such a move was an example of cancel culture and that she did not deserve to be treated this way because she wanted to make a stronger bill. Yet, none of the arguments she gives to defend her position have supported the claim.
If Gov. Noem was scared, she should have let someone know so they could help her navigate the waters of left-wing criticism. Instead, she caved to the pressure from the radical Left, choosing to allow girls all across South Dakota to suffer. It was a simple and easy decision to just sign the bill and allow the process to continue to the courts where we all knew it would end up. Instead, Noem tried to choose her political future over the future of the girls of South Dakota.
JD Washington is the Editor-in-Chief at The Liberty Loft and host of The JD Washington Show. Be sure to subscribe to The Liberty Loft’s daily newsletter. If you enjoy our content, please consider donating to support The Liberty Loft so we can continue to deliver great content.
