House passes bill banning trans athletes from girls’ school sports teams

A divided House approved legislation Tuesday to ban transgender women and girls from participating in school sports programs for female students, as Republicans sought to seize political opportunity from a social issue that helped them win elections of 2024.

The bill, approved almost entirely along party lines by a 218-206 vote, would ban federal funding for elementary and secondary schools that include transgender students on girls’ sports teams. He faces a stiff challenge in the Senate, where seven Democrats are expected to join Republicans in pushing through the filibuster and moving to a final vote.

Only two Democrats joined all Republicans in voting yes in the House, while another Democrat voted “present,” declining to record a position.

Republicans introduced the bill Tuesday, which they also pushed through in the last Congress, as a popular and pragmatic way to level the playing field for female athletes and as a measure to protect spaces and women’s rights.

“The overwhelming majority believe men have no place in women’s sports,” said Rep. Greg Steube, the Florida Republican who sponsored the measure. “This bill will deliver on the mandate the American people gave to Congress. »

But Democrats, who dubbed the bill the Child Predator Empowerment Act, said it was a dangerous invasion of young girls’ privacy that would put them at greater risk. They also cited the bill as the latest example of an unhealthy fixation by Republicans on trying to restrict the rights of transgender people, when they could be spending their time passing laws to create jobs or lower prices for groceries.