
WASHINGTON – A measure that would do just that transgender students in a bar A ban on women participating in school sports teams consistent with their gender identity was adopted by the US House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Legislation – that has moved forward 218-206 – comes as an increasing number of states have passed laws barring transgender athletes from participating in K-12 sports in schools and colleges that are consistent with their gender identity, and amid a broader Republican Party push for anti-transgender legislation.
President-elect Donald Trump, who is scheduled to be sworn in on January 20, repeatedly promised during the election campaign that he would ban transgender youth from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.
Nearly all Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives opposed the measure, but two Texans – U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez – voted for it. North Carolina Democratic Republican Don Davis voted “present.”
Florida GOP Rep. Greg Steube introduced legislation, a whose version was adopted by the House in the previous session of Congress, but had no chance of success when Democrats controlled the Senate.
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said during a news conference after the vote “this is a great day for women in America.”
The Louisiana Republican said that “the House voted to use common sense again.”
Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Kentucky who was at the press conference, said that with the passage of the House resolution, “we are one step closer as a nation to ensuring that not one more athlete will be able to win a trophy. a place in the squad, playing time, resources or the opportunity to compete – from a woman.”
Gaines is a leading voice opposing transgender athletes’ participation in sports consistent with their gender identity.
The Human Rights CampaignLGBTQ+ advocacy group, noted that there has been “considerable misinformation and disinformation about what the inclusion of transgender youth in sports entails” and that transgender student participation in sports “is not an issue.”
What would the bill do?
The the measure would change Title IX states that “sex shall be recognized solely on the basis of an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The bill does not specify how exactly the ban will be enforced – something that Democrats in the House of Representatives who oppose the measure quickly pointed out.
Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits schools receiving federal funds from practicing sex discrimination.
In April 2024, the Biden administration released updated Title IX regulations, some of which were intended to strengthen federal protections for LGBTQ+ students.
But last week federal judge in Kentucky rescinded the administration’s final rule nationwide — ending enforcement of updated rules that had sparked sturdy GOP opposition and a slew of legal challenges, and created a political patchwork across the country.
With Republicans now leading both houses of Congress and Trump’s imminent return to the White House, the GOP is in a stronger position to enact such a ban.
Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville he reintroduced a similar measure in the U.S. Senate last week. This effort that already has support of 35 Senate Republicans, he would likely need the support of at least 60 senators to overcome a filibuster.
There are 45 Democratic senators in Congress, although independent senators Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of the Vermont Democratic caucus.
The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s Tuesday request for comment on the House bill.
Democrats and civil rights groups oppose
The measure was met with sturdy opposition from Democrats in the House of Representatives, who spoke during the debate with a backdrop that read: “GOP Empowering Children of Predators Act.”
Republicans titled the bill the “Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025.”
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of the House Education and Workforce Committee strongly opposed the measure, which she said would “empower child predators — putting students across the country at increased risk.”
Bonamici raised concerns about privacy breaches and harassment over how the bill is being enforced.
“This is a universal bill that would apply equally to every sport, from elementary and middle schools to colleges,” the Oregon Democrat said during floor debate.
Meanwhile, the Conference of Leaders on Civil and Human Rights together with over 400 civil rights groupsurged members of Congress to reject the measure on Monday, writing in a letter that “this discriminatory proposal seeks to exclude transgender, non-binary and intersex people from school athletics programs.”
“Rather than providing equal facilities, equipment and travel, or any other policy that women athletes have been calling for for decades, the bill cynically disguises the attack on transgender people as an issue of sports policy,” the groups wrote.
Last updated at 17:54, January 14, 2025