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A divided House of Representatives on Tuesday approved legislation aimed at banning transgender women and girls from participating in school sports programs aimed at female students, as Republicans sought to extract political opportunity from a social issue that helped them win the 2024 election.
The bill, approved almost entirely along party lines by a 218-206 vote, would have banned federal funding for K-12 schools that include transgender students on women’s sports teams. He faces a stiff challenge in the Senate, where seven Democrats would have to join Republicans to get through the filibuster and reach a final vote.
Only two Democrats joined all Republicans in voting yes in the House, while another Democrat voted “absent,” declining to report a position.
On Tuesday, Republicans introduced the bill, which they also pushed during the last Congress, as a popular and pragmatic way to level the playing field for female athletes and as a move to protect women’s space and women’s rights.
“The vast majority believe that men have no place in women’s sports,” said Rep. Greg Steube, the Florida Republican who sponsored the measure. “This legislation will fulfill the mandate that the American people gave Congress.”
But Democrats, who called the bill the “Child Predator Empowerment Act,” said it was a dangerous invasion of young girls’ privacy that would put them at greater risk. They also highlighted the bill as the latest example of an unhealthy fixation among Republicans with trying to limit the rights of transgender people, when they could be spending their time passing legislation to create jobs or lower grocery prices.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, openly said the bill was an example of Republicans’ “creepy obsession with your children’s private parts” and would fuel more hatred toward a small and vulnerable population of transgender children who already face higher rates of abuse and problems with mental health.
“Every child should be able to play sports,” added Mr. McGovern. “This is a mean, cruel bullying tactic.”
Rep. Lori Trahan, a Democrat from Massachusetts and the only former Division I athlete currently serving in Congress, said there are legitimate concerns about transgender athletes competing in women’s sports at the highest levels. But she criticized Republican lawmakers for meddling in the issue.
“Why on earth would we let disingenuous attention-seeking politicians here in Washington — many of whom know little or nothing about competitive sports — take over?” said Mrs. Trahan. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Democrats also said that while there may be cases of transgender athletes competing in elite sports that are worrisome, the measure would lump those with harmless situations where elementary school children simply want to be involved in activities with their friends.
Republicans’ decision to introduce legislation that would violate the rights of transgender people in the second week of Congress showed that they believe the issue remains politically powerful for them. During the 2024 presidential election season, the Trump campaign spent more than $37 million on television ads addressing transgender issues, nearly 20 percent of its total advertising budget, according to AdImpact, an organization that tracks political ad placement and spending.
Last year, House Republicans introduced 87 bills limiting the rights of transgender people, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker, an independent research organization that tracks such legislation.
And as they began the uncomfortable process of conducting a post-election autopsy, examining their own shortcomings, Democrats were divided over how much their stance on transgender rights had cost them among voters.
Democrats spent more time Tuesday raising alarms about how the bill would trample on the privacy of girls, who they said would be subject to invasive body searches, than defending the rights of transgender athletes.
“This does not protect girls’ rights, it eliminates them,” said Representative Katherine M. Clark, Democrat of Massachusetts. “This puts a target on the back of every girl, every young woman who decides to play sports. Examining girls’ genitalia is the wrong answer.”
A fierce disagreement ensued over how such a law would be enforced. Representative Tim Walberg, Republican of Michigan, said there would be no need for invasive questions or any physical examination; implementation would mean simply looking at a student’s birth certificate to see what gender they were assigned at birth.
Democrats said some birth certificates list babies born intersex, meaning their biological or physiological traits are not clearly male or female, and argued they would not be a reliable way to enforce a ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, said that “when there is no enforcement mechanism, you open the door to any enforcement mechanism.”
Democrats also noted how small the population was at stake. There are about 510,000 athletes competing at the NCAA level, noted Representative Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, and only 10 are transgender.
But Republicans said the bill would strengthen Title IX protections and blasted Democrats for what they characterized as extreme positions on transgender issues, citing stories from their own districts of girls who lost opportunities instead given to transgender students.
Mr Steube condemned the “radical left which seeks to dismantle the core of our society” by recognizing more than two genders. “In worship of their trans idols, radical leftists want to kill Title IX.”
Mr. Walberg added that Democrats are missing the reality that “the American people, parents, grandparents, teachers, are not standing with them” on this issue.
The two Democrats who voted with Republicans for the measure were Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas. Rep. Don Davis, D-North Carolina, voted “present.” Mr. Cuellar opposed the same bill last year, while neither Mr. Gonzalez nor Mr. Davis voted on it.
President Biden sought to expand protections for transgender students and make other changes to rules governing gender discrimination in schools. But last week, a federal judge in Kentucky struck down that effort.
It’s still early in the new Congress, and President-elect Donald J. Trump has yet to be sworn in. But criticism of transgender rights is already becoming an issue in the Republican-led House of Representatives.
Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, began campaigning against the first openly transgender member of Congress, Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, before she was even sworn in. During a member orientation, Ms. Mace introduced a measure to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms and locker rooms in the Capitol complex.
Ms McBride has so far shied away from weighing in on issues related to her identity. She did not bite the bathroom ban, she simply said that she would abide by the new rules. And on Tuesday, Ms. McBride opposed the bill, but did not speak out against it on the floor as many of her Democratic colleagues did.
