In the latest Republican volley in the escalating culture wars over transgender rights in America, the Republican-controlled House on Thursday passed legislation that would prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in female school athletics.
Rep. Greg Steube’s (R-FL) legislation would alter Title IX to prohibit institutions receiving federal funds from allowing students “whose se* is male” to engage in sports meant explicitly for women or girls.
According to the definition of se* under the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, it is “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The vote was 219-203, strictly along party lines, with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats voting against. However, the Democratic-controlled Senate will not allow it to forward. President Joe Biden would veto the bill, according to the White House, if it reached his desk because it “targets people for who they are and therefore is discriminatory,” according to the statement.
Before the vote, House Republican women came out in support of the legislation. GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York, a former high school lacrosse player, referred to the prohibition on transgender athletes in sports as “a winning issue across America.”
Another member of the Republican leadership from Michigan, Rep. Lisa McClain, used more violent language in her statements.
“The new norms in our locker rooms … young girls are being exposed to male genitalia and have to undress themselves and expose their own bodies to these biological males,” McClain said at a news conference Thursday. “Let’s stop distorting reality. It’s beyond disgusting, and I cannot believe that we are subjecting the girls to this kind of exploitation. Makes me sick to my stomach.”
A 2019 study found that transgender and nonbinary teens are more likely to have experienced se*ual assault or harassment if they attended schools that did not allow them to use bathrooms and locker rooms that conformed to their gender identities.
A 2018 study on allowing transgender people to use public facilities according to their gender identities showed no link with increased safety issues.
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Democrats have accused Republicans of targeting transgender people to enhance their political profile and attract donations from right-wing individuals. They contend that Steube’s proposal would particularly harm those who already face bullying, sadness, and su*cidal ideation.
The bill “makes school sports less fair by singling out and banning transgender women and girls as young as kindergarten from participating on school sports teams with their friends,” According to Rep. Mark Takano, a leader of the Equality Caucus, which promotes LGBTQ rights on Capitol Hill, he is a Democrat from California.
“We know transgender students already face widespread bullying and discrimination,” he said Wednesday. “Adding to their pain by targeting their participation in school sports is both wrong and dangerous.”
Steube stated in a floor speech on Wednesday that Congress established Title IX 50 years ago to safeguard women’s sports and provide equal opportunity for women in athletics. “In worship to their trans idols, the [Biden] administration wants to flip that on its head. It’s insane,” he said.
“Parents do not want biological men in locker rooms with their daughters, nor do they believe it’s equitable a male can compete with women in female athletics,” he added.
After University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who had previously competed on the men’s swim team, switched to the women’s team after she came out as a trans woman and became the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship, Republicans intensified their political att@cks on transgender athletes.
Since then, transgender athletes can no longer compete in more than a dozen GOP-led states. Republicans have also advocated for state legislation that would limit care for transgender children that are gender-affirming.
This month, the Biden administration joined in by putting up new rules that would forbid categorical exclusions of trans athletes from institutions receiving federal funding while allowing some limitations at higher levels of competition.
According to the proposed summary, the regulations should account for variations in competitors’ ages, grades, and levels of competition.
The Education Department “expects that … elementary school students would generally be able to participate on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity where considerations may be different for competitive high school and college teams,” the summary says.
One female student-athlete who appeared after the vote with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, was Macy Petty, an NCAA volleyball player at Lee University in Tennessee.
Petty recalled how, while seeking to be noticed by college scouts, she faced off against a transgender person in a volleyball competition.
“Female athletes who sacrificed so much for their sport are being pushed out of athletics,” Petty stated that the nets are 7 inches lower in women’s volleyball matches than in men’s matches.
“It’s a big difference. Suddenly, mediocre athletes can hit like All-Americans. And that’s exactly what happened,” she said.
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