House passes GOP bill blocking transgender girls and women from participating in school sports
WASHINGTON – House Republicans passed a GOP-backed bill blocking transgender girls and women from participating in school athletic programs for females.
The legislation, called the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, makes it a violation of Title IX for federally funded education programs to allow people assigned male at birth to participate in athletic programs designated for women. It prohibits federal funding to institutions that allow people assigned male at birth to participate on women's sports teams or in events.
It passed in the House 219-203 along party-line votes.
The legislation comes at a time when numerous states are passing similar laws banning transgender students from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity as the GOP continues to champion "culture war" issues.
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Republicans: Bill creates 'level playing field'
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., first introduced the legislation, which has 93 Republican co-sponsors. He said in a release the bill protects the integrity of women’s athletic competitions and ensures a level playing field for female athletes.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., one of the bill's co-sponsors, called the bill a "common sense piece of legislation."
"The perverse biological fantasies of the left are both dangerous and a direct threat to women's sports and all female athletes across our country," Foxx said at a news conference Thursday before the House vote.
Democrats have widely criticized the bill.
Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, a top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, called the bill "a sick joke" and compared it to "weaponizing the federal government" for Republicans proposed meddling in local soccer teams.
"Republicans are obsessed with attacking and bullying trans people," he said. "It's cruel, frankly it's creepy, and it's a really rotten thing to do."
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States pass anti-trans bills
In Kentucky, the state Legislature voted to override Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of one of the nation’s most extreme anti-trans bills. The bill became law and includes banning all gender-affirming medical care for trans youth in the state, prohibiting conversations around sexual orientation or gender identity in school for students of all grades and allowing teachers to refuse to use a student’s preferred pronouns.
Utah became the first state this year to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender youth.
Nine other states have introduced bills targeting such health care access for transgender and gender-nonconforming people: Kansas, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
Biden plans to veto
It is unlikely the legislation will receive enough votes to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate. If it were to move to the president's desk, President Joe Biden plans to veto it, according to the White House.
The administration, in a statement of administration policy, said the bill would "deny access to sports for many families by establishing an absolute ban on transgender students – even those as young as elementary schoolers – playing on a team consistent with their gender identity."
"Discrimination has no place in our nation’s schools or on our playing fields," according to the statement.
Education Department rule includes transgender students
The Education Department recently proposed its own rule for including transgender students in K-12 and college sports. It would allow bans in some cases, but the regulation would prevent colleges and schools from banning all transgender students from participating in any sport.
Some advocates worry that there is any opportunity to bar young people from participating in athletics that align with their gender identity.
"We are concerned about whether the proposed rule can properly eliminate the discrimination that transgender students experience due to the pervasive bias and ignorance about who they are," said Sacha Buchert, a senior attorney and director of Lambda Legal’s Nonbinary and Transgender Rights Project.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona defended the proposal in a recent interview with Reuters.
"The intent here is to make sure we provide opportunities for all students and protect all students' ability to participate in athletics, and that includes our LGBTI population," he said, adding the department had received "a lot of feedback on how difficult it is, how nuanced it is."
More: Read Department of Education's proposed Title IX rule for transgender sports participation
Contributing: Kayla Jimenez, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GOP bill to block transgender girls and women in sports passes House