Governor Gianforte Safeguards Protections for Montana Women and Girls

Protects privacy of women’s spaces, fairness in women’s sports

• March 27 2025

HELENA, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte today reaffirmed Montana’s commitment to protecting the privacy and security of women and girls as well as to preserving fairness and integrity in women’s sports.

“Standing alongside our partners in Montana and across the country, I am proud to safeguard privacy and security for women and girls – because a man shouldn’t be in a women’s restroom, shouldn’t be in a women’s shower room, and shouldn’t be housed in a women’s prison,” Gov. Gianforte said. “Today, we’re maintaining equal opportunity for all Americans, while also protecting women and girls and their right to safe and separate facilities and activities.”

Gov. Gianforte signing a bill into law at the Montana State Capitol

Signing into law House Bill 121, the governor preserved the legal definition of women as distinct from men and safeguarded the existence of single-sex spaces, including domestic violence shelters, locker rooms, correctional facilities, and sleeping quarters.

The governor also signed into law House Bill 300 to preserve fairness and integrity in women’s sports.

Joining the governor in praising the legislation was Independent Women’s Voice, a nonprofit organization advocating for policy solutions to enhance freedom, opportunity, and well-being for women and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

Riley Gaines, host of Outkick’s Gaines for Girls podcast, said, “Under Governor Gianforte’s leadership, Montana has prioritized the preservation of women’s safety and opportunities whether it be in athletics or in single-sex spaces. The legislature's passage of House Bill 121 and House Bill 300 sends a clear message that the legislature and the Gianforte administration stand with over half a million Montana women and girls.”

Gaines concluded, “I was glad to support this bill through my testimony, and it is an even greater honor to see yet another state pass such critical legislation!”

“Montana is right to protect the privacy, safety, and dignity of women and girls, and to ensure that female athletes of all ages continue to have a fair and level playing field. Letting men intrude into women’s spaces and on their sports teams is an invasion of privacy, a threat to their safety, and a denial of the real biological differences between the sexes. By signing this legislation into law, Gov. Gianforte is protecting Montanans for generations to come,” said ADF Senior Counsel Matt Sharp, director of the ADF Center for Public Policy.

The actions from Gov. Gianforte follow those taken by President Trump in his first weeks in office in signing an Executive Order to keep men out of women’s sports.

In May 2021, the governor signed House Bill 112 into law to ban transgender athletes from competing as the gender they identify with in K-12 and collegiate sports.

In October 2023, the governor joined eight governors in calling on the National Collegiate Athletics Association to guarantee fair competition for women and girls in women’s sports. And in May 2024, Gov. Gianforte sent a letter to the Montana Board of Regents urging them to adopt policies that protect women’s sports in light of the Biden administration’s attempts to upend the fair, level playing field for collegiate female athletes.

Watch a video from Gov. Gianforte here .

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