Anti-Trans Sports Bill Begins Debate in House

House Resolution 734, which would find any federally-funded women’s athletic programs that accept trans women to be in violation of Title IX, was submitted for review Wednesday of last week by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. After this review, the Committee will make amendments and vote on whether to send it to the full House.

Surprising absolutely nobody, this anti-trans sports bill is entirely sponsored by republicans. If this resolution passes, the 18 state bans on trans women participating in women’s sports will be expanded into federal law. There is virtually no word about how this bill would affect trans men and boys, which highlights just how little the GOP actually knows or cares about trans issues.

The Equality Caucus said in a press release, “This bill would effectively ban all trans girls and trans women from participating on school sports teams, depriving them of an important opportunity to be part of their school community, learn sportsmanship, and challenge themselves.” Equality Caucus chair Mark Pocan went on to say, “This is not about girls’ and women’s sports; it’s about attacking trans kids. This sports ban is just the opening salvo in their larger efforts to limit the rights of and demonize the LGBTQI+ community.”

The Equality Caucus is not the only House Caucus speaking out against this resolution. “We will not let anti-LGBTQI+ republicans—who have refused to work with us on addressing real gender equity issues—use ‘protecting women’ as an excuse to attack trans youth,” says Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Lois Frankel. “When my Republican colleagues want to join with us to address the actual pressing issues impacting girls’ and women’s sports, I stand ready to work with them.”

Even outside of Congress, this move is gaining scrutiny. President and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center Fatima Goss Graves says, “Prohibiting trans women and girls from playing sports is not only discrimination, it steers us further from Title IX’s promise.”