GOP House passes bill barring trans girls from girls sports, as almost every Democrat votes ‘No’

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a federal ban on transgender female student-athletes in interscholastic and intercollegiate sports Tuesday on a mostly party-line vote, 218-206.

The measure, HR 28, would amend Title IX to prohibit what the bill defines as, “a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.”

The wording has direct correlation to President-Elect Donald Trump’s edict he made at the Turning Point USA AmeriFest conference in December. “It will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” Trump said to raucous applause.

The tenor of the House Republican caucus continued in the same vein in floor debate on Tuesday.

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“In our culture and civilization we continue to be subjected to the perverse lie that there are more than two genders or that men can be women or women can be men,” Rep Greg Steube (R-Fla.), the bill’s lead sponsor, said. “We must never let our country and the American way of life surrender to the immoral ideology.”

Much of the GOP caucus followed the similar rhetoric that was key to their $215 million anti-trans media barrage during the 2024 campaign. Not a single speaker used the word “transgender” in reference to transgender people. The misgendering was constant.

“What is our message as we cowardly stand as boys and men steal opportunities and records,” Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) said. “Our girls and women are watching us and the message to the men on the sidelines on this issue is that is time to man up.”

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Opposition Democrats set their argument mainly around the lack of an enforcement mechanism within the bill and how it could potentially lead to invasive means to confirm the eligibility of a student-athlete.

Lawmakers also cited the possibility of genital inspections or situations similar to the investigation of a cisgender high school girl in Utah in 2022. A parent of a girl at a rival school called for a state investigation of a girl who won an event at a track meet decisively and was accused of being transgender. That girl did not undergo any physical or genital inspections as part of the investigation.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), a consistent voice against previous GOP anti-trans legislation, dubbed the bill the “Republican Child Predator Empowerment Act.”

“The bill’s language opens the door to invasive and degrading physical examinations of children who simply want to play softball or join a basketball team,” Takano said.

“This bill puts all girls at risk,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said. “Is it protecting girls to empower adult men to ask your daughter to inspect what’s in her pants? No, that is predator behavior. The hate on the other side of aisle for trans Americans is so much so that they are willing to put all of our children, all of our daughters, at risk.”

After the vote, Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) posted on X.com, “Larry Nassar and Jerry Sandusky would’ve loved the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act that the GOP just passed,” referring to the two men convicted of sexual abuse in their roles as a team doctor and coach, respectively.

However, two Democratic colleagues, fellow Texas Representatives Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, voted for the measure. North Carolina Democratic Representative Don Davis voted present.

The bill will now head to the Senate, where a similar proposal by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has been introduced and is expected to be debated in the coming weeks.

After the vote, House Republicans lauded the vote alongside former college athlete turned anti-trans advocate Riley Gaines, who was on hand for the vote.

Trans college student-athlete Sadie Schreiner, a track sprinter, responded to the vote via Threads.

“If any senator truly wants to be informed of the trans of athletics, I welcome them to personally talk to me on the reality of being a trans athlete in the NCAA,” she said. “It’s insulting to claim this H.R. 28 protects anyone, it’s nothing more than a direct attack on the trans community.”

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