WASHINGTON — Today, the American Principles Project (APP) joined with 46 other pro-family advocacy groups in signing a coalition letter to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) urging her to support HB 1217, legislation which would prohibit state schools from allowing biological males to compete in girls’ athletics. The letter called on Noem to join the growing coalition of leaders moving to protect girls’ sports and stand up to threats from the left:

You’ve said you want to win, and we do, too. More importantly, South Dakota’s female athletes also want the opportunity to win—no matter at what level of competition. This is why our coalition stands unapologetically behind these girls and women and won’t back down to pressure from the NCAA. The NCAA itself doesn’t require its member schools to allow biological males who identify as female on female teams. But even if it did have such a policy, we’d still rather stand proudly with female athletes than those who stand to profit off of them.

Today is also “Veto Day” in South Dakota, the last day of the state’s legislative session. This weekend, APP’s director of policy and government affairs Jon Schweppe wrote that he expects the state legislature will reject Noem’s proposed “style and form” changes, which would leave the governor with one more decision to make:

If the legislature rejects the changes, which they are likely to do, will Gov. Noem really veto House Bill 1217 after spending the last week telling conservatives that it wasn’t a veto? What a wild ride that would be — from “excited to sign this bill very soon” to “asking the legislature to change it” to a total veto.

If Gov. Noem signs the bill, and makes South Dakota the fifth state in the Union to protect women’s sports, she can survive this controversy. She could even ask for changes later from the legislature, and nobody would notice. But if she vetoes the bill? Well, she can kiss those presidential aspirations goodbye.

You can read Jon Schweppe’s full summary of the situation here.

To schedule an interview with an APP policy expert, contact Paul Dupont at (o) 202-503-2010 or pdupont@americanprinciplesproject.org.