Dive Brief:
- House lawmakers on Tuesday passed a Republican-led bill, 218-206, that would prohibit federally funded schools and colleges from allowing transgender women and girls to participate on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
- The bill passed largely along party lines, with only two Democrats voting in favor. Many Democrats fiercely opposed the measure, arguing that it would harm transgender students and could lead to women and girls having to undergo invasive physical examinations to verify their sex.
- Companion legislation has also been introduced in the Senate, where Republicans have a 53-47 majority. The bill may have a tough time overcoming the chamber’s filibuster rule, however, which requires 60 votes to pass most legislation.
Dive Insight:
Earlier this month, House Republicans said the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act would be one of their legislative priorities in the new year. The House also passed the bill in 2023 year along party lines, though the then-Democrat-controlled Senate never put companion legislation up for a vote.
The bill would amend Title IX by prohibiting federally funded schools and colleges from allowing a student “whose sex is male” to participate in women’s or girls’ athletics programs. The bill would define sex as “recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The proposal does not specify how schools or colleges would ensure they are complying with the statute’s requirements, prompting concerns among Democrats that women and girls could be subject to invasive physical examinations.
Tim Walberg, the Michigan Republican who chairs the House’s Committee on Education and Workforce, said the bill doesn’t include language requiring “any type of invasive check on women or men.”
“They simply have to go to the birth certificate,” Walberg added.
However, the bill also does not include language suggesting or requiring that birth certificates be used.
“There’s no enforcement mechanism in this bill,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York. “And when there is no enforcement mechanism, you open the door to every enforcement mechanism.”
Over 400 national and local civil rights and education organizations also opposed the bill, writing in a letter Monday that the proposal “would harm women and girls and undermine civil rights for all students.”
“School athletics are very often the centerpiece of communities across the country, and denying transgender, nonbinary, and intersex youth the chance to participate only serves to deny them an opportunity to be part of that community, further isolating and stigmatizing these youth,” they wrote.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Greg Steube, a Republican from Florida who has been pushing anti-trans proposals for years.
On Tuesday, he argued that the legislation would protect “the integrity of women’s sports.”
“The distinction between men and women is clear and evident, and the erasure of this division has been promulgated by those in the radical left who seek to dismantle the core foundation of our society,” Steube said.
President-elect Donald Trump, who will begin his second term next week, has voiced support for such a measure, promising during his campaign that he would keep “men out of women’s sports.”
Last week, Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, from South Carolina, and Tommy Tuberville, from Alabama, introduced companion legislation with the backing of 29 other GOP lawmakers.
