OKLAHOMA CITY –  State Sen. Micheal Bergstrom filed Senate Bill 331 which would protect female athletes from competing against males who identify as females in school-sponsored athletic events.

Also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, the measure expressly designates that athletic teams sponsored by a public or private school would be based on biological sex and broken into three categories: Males, including “men” or “boys”; Females, including “women” or “girls”; or Co-ed or “mixed.”

The measure also states that any student deprived of an athletic opportunity or that suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a violation of the three sport categories would have a cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and other relief available by law against the school.

“We have seen this happening around our nation – young women who have trained for years to become the best in their sport find themselves competing against young men who decide to identify as female,” Bergstrom said. “Now is the time for the legislature to act and head off the issue in Oklahoma.”

Similarly, the bill would protect schools that enforce biological sex identification on their sports teams from any adverse action taken by the State Board of Education, Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and any school athletic association or intercollegiate association in which the school is a member.

“It’s unfair to ask our female athletes to compete against biological males in any sporting event, unless the team is categorized as co-ed,” Bergstrom said.