The House on Tuesday passed a Republican measure banning transgender girls and women from competing on school sports teams that match their gender identity after the party leaned into the issue during the 2024 campaign.
The bill, known as the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” would amend Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in schools, to recognize a person’s “sex” as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” Schools who allow “a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls” risk losing federal funding.
It passed in the House with 218 voting in favor, 206 voting against and one voting present. Two Democrats from Texas — Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez — joined all Republicans in support of the bill. Democratic Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina voted present.
“An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that men don’t belong in women’s sports and that we must allow common sense to prevail,” Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida, who introduced the bill, said during floor debate ahead of the vote.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 3% of high school students identify as transgender. Polling in recent years has found a lack of support for transgender athletes participating on sports teams that match their gender identity and about half of states limit transgender athlete participation.
House Republicans passed the bill in 2023 with no Democratic support. The Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats, did not take it up. House Republicans vowed to prioritize the issue again this year after GOP campaigns spent tens of millions of dollars on ads last year that characterized the issue as a threat to girls and women in sports. A similar measure has been reintroduced in the Republican-controlled Senate.