House Bans Transgender Athletes from Female Sports
The New York Times.The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate. But due to the filibuster, seven Democrats would have to vote with Republicans to meet the 60-vote threshold needed to end debate on the bill before it receives an up-or-down vote.
Republicans — who have seized on Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race as evidence that a slew of anti-transgender attack ads resonated with voters — have cast the measure as necessary to protect the safety of cisgender female athletes and ensure they are not denied opportunities to excel by being forced to compete against athletes assigned male at birth.
Republicans also see the issue as one on which they align more closely with the views of most Americans than do Democrats, creating a perfect wedge issue with which to bludgeon Democrats in future election cycles.“The overwhelming majority believe men don’t belong in women’s sports,” U.S.
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), the sponsor of the measure, said during debate on the measure. “This bill will deliver upon the mandate the American people gave Congress.”Under a package of House rules, approved by Republicans last week, the bill — and 11 other measures dealing with crime, immigration, fracking, anti-abortion restrictions, and voting restrictions that are an attempt to placate conservative voters — was required to be fast-tracked and voted upon “as read,” meaning no amendments or alterations could be made to the legislation.Steube also blasted Democrats as being beholden to the “radical Left who seek to dismantle the core foundation of our society” by recognizing more than two genders, adding: “In worship to their trans idols, radical leftists want to kill Title IX.”But Democrats slammed the bill as a measure that would infringe on student-athletes’ privacy and subject athletes — not solely those who are transgender, but primarily cisgender females who don’t ascribe to stereotypical gender norms — to invasive medical exams to “prove” their gender.
