Bill to Bar Biological Males From Competing in Women’s Sports Headed for House Vote

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Feb. 28, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

A bill to protect women and girls in sports is heading for a House vote, possibly as early as next week. Dubbed “the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023,” the bill is a direct challenge to the newly proposed Title IX rule by the Department of Education under the Biden administration.

The Act prohibits biological males from competing in federally funded women’s or girls’ sports programs. However, it doesn’t ban biological males from “training” or “practicing with” females as long as they don’t take away athletic benefits from a female participant, such as training, competition, scholarship, and admission to an educational institution.

The new rule by the Education Department—applicable to K-12 public schools, colleges, universities, and other federally funded institutions—would make school policies illegal if they “categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.” It will go through a 30-day public comment period before taking effect.

Introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) on Feb. 1, the House bill now has 93 co-sponsors, all Republicans. And Democrats in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce unanimously opposed it when it passed the Committee on March 8, according to a report released this week.

Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) is one of the original co-sponsors of the Act.

On April 6, the same day the Education Department announced the new rule, Foxx wrote in a statement: “At the hands of the Biden administration, Americans are witnessing a major shift in the country, where woke, far Left politics are advancing inequality and unfairness. This proposed rule takes on a totally perverse interpretation of Title IX that completely ignores the biological differences between boys and girls and men and women.”

“Now more than ever, Republicans must step up and pass common-sense legislation like the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 to restore the safety, privacy, and opportunities of women and girls in sports,” she added.

In the committee report submitted on April 10, Foxx wrote, “The Biden administration’s reinterpretation of Title IX is a slap in the face to young women and girls, telling them their hard work, on-field achievements, and athletic futures do not matter.

“Title IX was designed to stop discrimination and ensure equal athletic opportunities for women. By allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports, the Biden administration will be reversing 50 years of progress for women.”

A Democratic opinion recorded in the committee report stated that “the majority of women athletes and their advocates do not consider the participation of transgender youth in women’s sports an existential threat to their survival,” citing a Women’s Sports Foundation policy paper on accommodating transgender athletes (pdf).

It continued, “To the contrary, many woman’s groups have recognized that inclusion of trans youth is an opportunity to share the attendant benefits of sports participation with all women regardless of their gender identity.”

Riley Gaines, 4X SEC champion swimmer, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas on Aug. 6, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)

Athlete Attacked

Riley Gaines, a former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) swimmer and a supporter of the House bill, was physically assaulted by a transgender activist at San Francisco State University after she gave a speech about saving women’s sports on April 6, the same day of the Education Department’s new Title IX rule announcement.

In a February statement supporting the bill’s introduction, she said: “As an athlete who has experienced the injustice of competing against a male firsthand, I’m grateful for the leadership of Representative Steube. He has made it clear that he will fight for fairness, privacy, and safety for girls and women in sports.”

At the end of her speech, protesters flickered the lights in the classroom and shone their phone flashlights in her face, Gaines previously shared with The Epoch Times. She said she was struck twice on the shoulder and once on the face. Through the flickering lights, Gaines said she was able to make out that the assaulter was a man who likely identified as a woman, given the person’s feminine clothing.

“My whole argument is just that men competing in women’s sports is unfair if you have gone through male puberty. Because male puberty results in advantages that can never be mitigated,” she previously told The Epoch Times.

“And, of course, the privacy aspect of the locker room situation and the safety in our sports.”

“I wholeheartedly believe everyone should have a place in sports. It’s just about competing where it’s fair and safe. I’m not trying to segregate the trans community. I’m not trying to ban the trans community from playing,” she noted.

Last month, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) introduced the companion version of the bill in the Democrat-controlled Senate. It is still with the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a top choice for LGBTQ voters during the 2020 presidential Democratic primary.