House passes bill banning trans females from school teams

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House Republicans on Thursday passed a bill that seeks to prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in female athletic programs, moving to the national stage an issue that has thus far mainly played out in state legislatures and individual sports associations.

The legislation — titled the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and sponsored by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) — passed in a party-line 219-203 vote. It is the first standalone bill to restrict the rights of transgender people considered in the House.

The Democratic-controlled Senate, however, is unlikely to take up the measure, and the White House has issued a veto threat.

The bill, which failed to advance during the last three Congresses, would amend Title IX — the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education — to recognize sex as that which is “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

It specifically calls for prohibiting recipients of federal financial assistance that operate athletic activities from allowing transgender women and girls from participating on female sports teams.

It would not, however, 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.

“This is about protecting women’s sports now and into the future,” House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), the highest-ranking Republican woman in the chamber, said at a press conference ahead of the vote Thursday.

The Biden administration announced on Monday the president would veto the bill if it landed on his desk, arguing it discriminates against children.

The administration earlier this month in a set of proposed changes to Title IX criticized policies that broadly ban transgender athletes from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

The Education Department’s proposal, which has yet to undergo a period of public comment, would not prohibit transgender athlete bans in their entirety, however, and local school districts will still be able to enact policies that limit athletic participation based on a set of sex-related eligibility criteria if the rule is finalized into law.

An additional proposal released by the Biden administration in June would amend the definition of sex discrimination in Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

At least 21 states since 2020 have enacted laws or policies that prevent transgender athletes from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, and more than 40 such bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group.

I'm curious why it only applies to trans females and not trans males.