Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB300 barring transgender athletes from women's and girls' school sports
On March 27, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 300, which bars transgender women and girls from competing on female K-12 and university sports teams based on sex assigned at birth rather than gender identity. Sponsored by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, the law took effect October 1, 2025 and made Montana one of at least 25 states with such a restriction. Gianforte signed it the same day as a companion measure, House Bill 121, restricting bathroom and locker-room access by sex assigned at birth.
Actors
- Greg Gianforte (Governor, Montana)
- Kerri Seekins-Crowe (State Representative, Montana)
- Montana Legislature
On March 27, 2025, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 300, sponsored by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, R-Billings, barring transgender women and girls from competing in female K-12 and university sports based on sex assigned at birth rather than gender identity. The law took effect October 1, 2025 and made Montana one of at least 25 states with a similar restriction in place. Gianforte signed the measure the same day as a companion bill, HB121, which restricts bathroom and locker-room access by sex assigned at birth.
The law closely follows HB112, a 2021 Montana transgender-athlete restriction that a state district court struck down as unconstitutional as applied to university sports. Democratic lawmakers in the legislature unanimously opposed HB300, and the ACLU of Montana said the measure raised similar constitutional concerns without announcing an immediate legal challenge. As of the most recent local reporting, HB300 has not been challenged in court and remains in effect; a June 2026 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding materially similar transgender-athlete bans in Idaho and West Virginia was reported to reinforce Montana's law.
Why we recorded this
Civil-rights protections require government programs to treat people fairly regardless of protected characteristics such as gender identity. Montana barred transgender women and girls from competing in school and university sports according to their gender identity, instead requiring participation based on sex assigned at birth — a facially discriminatory classification that follows a 2021 version of the same restriction a state court found unconstitutional as applied to college athletics. This archive records when a state legislature enacts a law singling out transgender students for exclusion from an otherwise available public benefit.
Sources
- Montana HB300 | 2025 | Regular Session — LegiScan primary accessed July 12, 2026
- Governor Gianforte signs 'bathroom bill,' transgender athlete ban — Daily Montanan secondary accessed July 12, 2026
- Montana governor signs bathroom, trans athlete restrictions into law — Montana Free Press secondary accessed July 12, 2026
- House Bill 300 tracker — Montana Free Press Capitol Tracker secondary accessed July 12, 2026
- U.S. Supreme Court ruling on transgender athletes could reinforce Montana's law — KXLH (MTN News) secondary accessed July 12, 2026
See also
- Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB121, restricting bathrooms and changing rooms to sex assigned at birth
- Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB471, requiring parental opt-in before LGBTQ-related school instruction
- Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB400 'Free to Speak Act' shielding refusal to use transgender students' pronouns from discipline
- Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB682 imposing liability on gender-affirming care providers and framing the care as fraudulent
- Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB690 excluding non-affirmation of a child's gender identity from child abuse and neglect definitions
Receive the daily digest by email
One email each morning with every entry filed the day before. Free. No tracking, no ads. Unsubscribe anytime.