Nearly all House Democratic lawmakers voted against a bill Tuesday that would prevent men from competing in women’s sports.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, passed the House 218-206 with just two Democratic lawmakers, Texas Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar, voting in favor. The legislation, sponsored by Republican Florida Rep. Greg Steube, would interpret Title IX to prohibit male athletes from participating in scholastic athletic events designated specifically for female athletes.
“I believe that there should be rules to keep our sports fair and that boys should not play in girls sports,” Gonzalez told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Members of Congress must have the freedom to vote in a manner representative of their district. As Democrats, we should not be afraid to vote our district’s values because we’re afraid of Washington.”
“Congressman Cuellar voted for HR 28 [Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act] based on the concerns and feedback he received from constituents in his district,” Cuellar’s office told the DCNF in a statement.
Freshman Democratic Delaware Rep. Sarah McBride, Congress’s first lawmaker to identify as transgender, voted no on the bill.
Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, who chastised the Democratic Party for being out of touch on transgender issues following Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’ decisive defeat, also opposed the bill seeking to protect women’s sports.
One Democratic lawmaker, North Carolina Rep. Don Davis, voted present.
The legislation now heads to the Senate, where Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville has introduced a Senate companion to Steube’s bill. Republicans will need to convince seven Democratic senators to vote in favor of the bill in order to clear the 60-vote legislative filibuster.
“Americans are united in our belief that men have no place in women’s sports, whether it’s breaking records, entering locker rooms, or stealing scholarship opportunities,” Steube told the DCNF. “Denying biological truth erases fairness in sports and puts women’s safety and opportunities at risk.”
“House passage sends a clear message to the Senate—protecting women and girls in sports is not negotiable,” Steube added. “Senators should recognize that the American people have spoken on this issue, and they should vote to uphold the intent of Title IX.”
The last time my bill, The Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act, came to the floor, not a single Democrat supported it.
Biden threatened a veto, and Schumer let it die in the Senate.
But now, common sense is back in charge. With a soon to be Republican trifecta, my bill…
— Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) January 14, 2025
“It is shameful that the opposition [Democratic] party does not support the protection of women,” Republican Ohio Rep. Michael Rulli said during a heated floor debate on the bill. “We have to define what a woman is again.”
House Democrats fiercely opposed the bill, dubbing the legislation the “Child Predator Empowerment Act.”
“[The] bill will actually do the opposite and make sports more dangerous for women and girls,” Democratic Oregon Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, said during floor debate. “This bill will empower child predators, putting students across the country at increased risk.”
Bonamici also claimed that allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports is “working just fine.”
House Republicans previously passed the women’s sports protection bill 219-203 in April 2023 with zero Democratic lawmakers voting for the legislation. The Senate under Chuck Schumer’s leadership did not formally take up the legislation last Congress, forcing Steube to reintroduce the bill on Jan. 3.
A federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s rewrite of Title IX to include gender identity last Thursday.
Steube’s office also shared a national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee with the DCNF, which found that 70% of moderate voters said President-elect Donald Trump’s opposition to biological males’ participation in women’s sports were a driving factor in their vote for president.
Trump vowed to end the participation of males in female sporting events during his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination in July 2024.
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