A transgender sports bill requiring students to prove their sex at birth in order to play middle and high school sports is heading to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee‘s desk to be signed into law. The bill passed the Tennessee House yesterday with a vote of 71-16 with 5 not voting.

Governor Lee previously indicated his support for the legislation saying transgender athletes “will destroy women’s sports.”

Executive Director Hedy Weinburg of the ACLU issued the following statement:

“This hateful and unconstitutional bill is unnecessary. The bill sponsors have admitted that they do not know of a single instance of a Tennessee student facing any harm from a transgender athlete playing sports. Protecting women’s sports is important, but transgender girls do not threaten them. The vast majority of transgender students are not elite athletes. They just want to play sports for fun, with friends and classmates, to feel a sense of community and camaraderie, and to learn to respect and work together with coaches and teammates.”