House Republicans are escalating attacks on transgender athletes under the guise of protecting women’s sports, according to the passage of a new bill.
During a Thursday press conference the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and other legislators announced the passage of the so-called “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” in a party-line vote.
Calling the policy an attempt to “protect basic fairness”, the bill would prohibit transgender women from competing on women’s sports teams in schools and universities that receive public funding.
“Men shouldn’t be able to compete in women’s sports,” said Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise, the House majority leader, at a press conference following the vote.
House Democrats unanimously voted against the legislation.
“You should hang your heads in shame,” said Massachusetts congresswoman Katherine Clark, the House Democratic whip, during an impassioned floor debate on Thursday, warning that the legislation would further “incite fear and discrimination and hatred” against trans youth.
“What are we doing here?” she said. “What are we doing here as members of Congress?”
Joe Biden has vowed to veto the measure. Republicans called a potential veto a “slap in the face” to “women’s rights, science and common sense”.
The Biden administration put forth a proposal earlier this month that would forbid schools and colleges from enacting bans on transgender athletes in sports team.
But under Biden’s proposal, teams could put limits on participation under certain circumstances to ensure fairness, though the proposal did not elaborate on such limits.
LGBTQ+ advocates and civil rights leaders have called such bills banning transgender athlete participation transphobic and unnecessary.
“Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination,” said US education secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement.
At least 21 states have passed similar bans or restrictions on the participation of transgender athletes in school sports, according to data from the Movement Advancement Project.
Last March, Iowa governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill that bans transgender girls and women from participating in high school or collegiate sports.
Earlier this month Kansas’s legislature passed a bill that would ban transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports from kindergarten until college, the Associated Press reported. The bill passed via a veto override, the third veto of Democratic governor Laura Kelly on such a bill.
“It breaks my heart and certainly is disappointing,” said Kelly to reporters, adding that she believed legislators would regret voting for “this really awful bill.”
Kansas legislators also passed a bill broadly banning transgender people from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.
Republican lawmakers have also passed or introduced a number of other bills targeting the rights of transgender people and LGBTQ+ community, notably access to gender-affirming care.
While House Republicans and state legislatures attempt to push bans on trans people in the name of women’s rights, they’re simultaneously curbing reproductive access – including similar state-level restrictions or total bans on abortions.
