The U.S. House has now passed H.R. 734, the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.” The vote Thursday morning resulted in the measure’s passage along purely partisan lines, with 219 Republicans voting for it and 203 Democrats voting against it.
Following the bill’s passage, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) put out a press release setting forth its purpose:
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act would require schools to protect individuals from sex discrimination based on the person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth, in compliance with the original intent of Title IX for athletics. Specifically, this bill ensures biological females only compete against other biological females in women’s sports sponsored by entities receiving federal education funding.
Said Stefanik regarding the legislation:
Our daughters should not be forced to compete against biological men in competitive sports, which is why House Republicans took a stand for fairness and to protect the future of women’s sports from being diminished by the radical gender fluidity agenda. In the face of a woke agenda that is taking away long fought for protections for women in sports, House Republicans took action through the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act to ensure our children have an even playing field in competitive sports, so our daughters will grow up in a generation where their hard work and dedication pays off in competition.
The full text of the bill can be found here.
Democrats, of course, expressed their dismay over the bill’s passage. Below, a sampling of their responses (with a bit of editorializing):
“This bill is about bullying children,” said Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio. “Stop bullying children.”
You first. Stop bullying girls.
“House Republicans are choosing to bully and belittle trans children,” argued Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. “This is about attacking a small group of children, and it is shameful.”
I checked the wording of the bill. I see references to “male,” “women,” “girls,” “sex,” “reproductive biology,” and “genetics,” but no belittling.
“We should rename it the cancel kids trans hate bill,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said of the legislation. “This bill fuels a virulent hate campaign against kids who just want to play with their friends.”
First, “cancel kids trans hate” doesn’t even make sense, Pramila. Second, is she saying that these “kids” only have female friends?
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said the bill would make school sports “less safe for women and girls,” and argued that even discussing the legislation on the House floor was doing harm to transgender students.
“This debate itself has been traumatizing,” he asserted.
Really? In what way would it make sports less safe for women and girls? What’s “traumatizing” is the progressive left’s steadfast insistence on turning language and biology on their heads, gutting Title IX, and trampling on the rights of girls and women in the name of accommodating “a small group of children.” (It’s for the children!)
Republicans naturally expressed a different view regarding the measure.
Republicans rejected these arguments and said they are trying to protect girls’ and women’s sports from being taken over by biological males. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said Democrats are ignoring the “physical advantages” that men have over women and rejected Jayapal’s argument that the GOP is waging a “hate” campaign against transgender students.
“We hate no one,” Foxx said. “It is ridiculous that we have had to stand here today to defend the rights of women and girls to participate in sports against other women and girls and they not being taken advantage of by biological males.”
The likelihood that the measure will pass the Senate is slim-to-none, given the Democratic majority. Still, on the issue of women’s sports, the current score stands at 1-0 Republicans.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Rep. Elise Stefanik as a Democrat. We apologize to our readers for the error.
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