Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Washington — 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. During floor debate, Republicans argued that these athletes have biological advantages that are unfair and unsafe for other girls and women. Democrats opposed to the measure said it opens the door to intrusive genital examinations of girls. “We’re already seeing examples of harassment and questioning of girls who may not conform to stereotypical feminine roles,” said Democratic Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon. But there are a number of moderate Democrats who have expressed some concern on the issue, especially after the Democrats’ 2024 election losses. One of those Democrats is Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who voted against the ban when it came up for a vote in 2023 but since has questioned his party’s messaging on transgender rights.
“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Moulton told the New York Times. “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”Moulton voted against the measure that passed Tuesday.
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Caitlin Yilek
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
