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One week after congressional Republicans refiled a bill to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports that receive federal funding, the House passed the legislation Tuesday.
The bill passed 218-206.
“House Republicans have yet again stood up for women,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said after the vote. “This is a commitment that we have made because it comports with what is right and what is common sense. We know from scripture and from nature that men are men and women are women and men cannot become women. It’s sad that we have to say that. It’s a matter of biology.”
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act says, “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
Introduced by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., the bill uses the new definition “for purposes of determining compliance with Title IX” — the landmark 1972 civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education and school sports.
The legislation bans federal funding recipients from operating, sponsoring or facilitating an athletic program that permits transgender female athletes to participate in women’s sporting events.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said House Democrats believe in the fairness of sports but were concerned that the legislation did not distinguish between age and competition levels of the athletes. He said it could lead to “personal inspections” of “kids as young as 4,” adding, “There is nothing in the bill that talks about parental consent of those inspections.”
Speaking Tuesday before the vote, Aguilar called it the “GOP Child Predator Empowerment Act.”
Kelley Robinson, president for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said in a statement after the vote: “We all want sports to be fair, students to be safe and young people to have the opportunity to participate alongside their peers. But this kind of blanket ban deprives kids of those things.”
She said the bill will expose young people to harassment and discrimination and embolden people to question the gender of children who do not fit conventional norms of how they are supposed to look or dress.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., last week introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said then he had taken the necessary steps to place it on the Senate calendar.
