<p>BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota’s House dealt Gov. Doug Burgum his first veto setback of the session Thursday, overriding his rejection of a bill restricting transgender girls from participating in public elementary and secondary school sports.</p>
<p>Representatives voted 68-25 to override the second-term Republican governor, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-north-dakota-government-and-politics-8ddd363288233d6c0ca85d0ddc75b5c2">who vetoed the measure </a> Wednesday evening. Sixty-three House votes were needed to provide a two-thirds majority.</p>
<p>The legislation now goes to the Senate, which will hold its own override vote later in the afternoon. Thirty-two votes are needed in the chamber for an override.</p>
<p>The bill last week got a strong 69-25 vote in the House but a narrower 27-20 vote in the Senate.</p>
<p>Burgum argued that the legislation endorsed by the GOP-led Legislature attempts to address a problem that does not exist. </p>
<p>“To date, there has not been a single recorded incident of a transgender girl attempting to play on a North Dakota girls’ team,” Burgum wrote in his veto message Wednesday.</p>
<p>Burgum said the state “has a level playing field and fairness in girls’ sports.” The bill, he said, purports that fairness in school sports is in immediate danger.</p>
<p>“There is no evidence to suggest this is true,” Burgum wrote.</p>
<p>The American Civil Liberties Union called the legislation unconstitutional and warned it would open the state up to costly litigation.</p>
<p>The ACLU said in a statement that the measure provides "solutions to problems that don’t exist and, in the process, harming some of the most vulnerable people in our state.” </p>
<p>“Nobody wins when politicians try to meddle in people’s lives like this,” it said. "Nobody wins when we try to codify discrimination like this.”</p>
<p>The measure calls for an optional interim study of the impact the bill would have on student athletic events. The findings would be forwarded to the 2023 Legislature. </p>
<p>Opponents say the measure discriminates against transgender student athletes and would threaten the hosting of collegiate and club sports events in the state and create legal and economic risks.</p>
<p>Supporters say the legislation would ensure fairness in girls sports and support Title IX, a 1972 federal law that protects people from sex-based discrimination in school activities that receive federal money.</p>
