The House has advanced legislation that would ban transgender athletes from competing on some women’s sports teams.
In a 219-203 vote on Thursday, the House passed the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.”
It would prohibit transgender athletes from competing on sports teams that do not correspond to their biological sex in federally funded schools.
The Senate is not expected to advance the legislation.
If it did, the White House said President Joe Biden would veto it.
The House successfully passed a GOP-led bill that would ban transgender athletes from women's & girls' sports at federally funded schools and educational institutions. The bill is not expected to be taken up by the Senate & the White House has already issued a veto threat
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) April 20, 2023
The Hill noted the legislation would not “block transgender women and girls from training or practicing with female athletic programs ‘so long as no female is deprived of a roster spot on a team or sport, opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, scholarship, admission to an educational institution or other benefits.'”
It would also change Title IX, which is designed to prevent sex-based discrimination in education, to state that sex is “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said of the bill, “This is about protecting women’s sports now and into the future.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) said, “Biological women and girls should only be competing against other biological women and girls.”
“And I don’t care how many surgeries you have, I don’t care how many chemicals you put into your body. You’re not going to be a biological woman,” she added.
The passage of the bill comes two weeks after the Biden administration proposed a new rule that would allow schools to ban transgender athletes from competing in school and college sports.
However, it would prohibit blanket bans.