The U.S. House of Representatives passed its first bill of the 119th Congress on Tuesday, voting in favor of the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act.
All Republican representatives voted in favor of the bill, but only two Democrats, Reps. Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas, and Vicente Gonzales, Democrat of Texas, voted to pass it. All 206 other House Democrats voted against it. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., voted “present.”
After the bill passed, Republican congressional representatives and women’s rights advocates condemned Democrats who voted against it at a news conference at the Capitol.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said it was “shameful” that only two Democrats voted to pass the bill.
“We had two Democrats join us, but that’s shameful, there should be many, many more. In fact, I contend that every single member of this body voted for common sense and to protect women. But for whatever reason, politics I guess, they chose not to do it,” Johnson said.
“The American people sent a clear message in November that they want us to return to common sense, but it seems some of our friends in the other party are ignoring that call.”
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Mike Johnson wields the gavel after being re-elected president on the first day of the 119th Congress at the United States Capitol, January 3, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines, a prominent female athletes’ rights advocate who is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA over its stance allowing trans athletes to compete as women, also blasted the 206 Democrats who voted against the bill.
Gaines lashed out at Democrats who opposed the new law on the grounds that it would result in girls being screened for athletic eligibility.
“We heard about things like genital exams, we heard that girls would be asked to show what was in their underwear, we heard that they would have to show internal anatomy and external, inspections, Taliban-style police officers, hiring predators to attack enforcement officers on scene and so on, strange scaremongering about predators, but that’s it. that the Democrats are doing better,” Gaines said.
Leader of the parliamentary minority Hakeem JeffriesDN.Y., sent an article to Bluesky on Tuesday criticizing the legislation, baselessly claiming the law would “unleash horrific child predators on girls and young women.”
Jeffries’ office did not provide a substantive explanation of how the law would do this. Asked by PK Press Club Digital, a spokesperson simply replied: “The message speaks for itself.”
Gaines also criticized those who said the bill was “a waste of time.”
“I’ve heard this bill is a waste of time, and let me tell you the message I got when I heard that is that I’m a waste of time. Girls across the country, just like me, are a waste of time for all but two House Democrats.”
Riley Gaines, now a spokesperson for the Independent Women’s Forum, tied Lia Thomas for fifth place in the 200 freestyle final at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in March 2022. (Brett Davis-USA Today Sports)
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., who reintroduced the bill in the House after a failed attempt to pass it in 2023, highlighted Democrats’ record of enabling and celebrating trans inclusion in elections. women’s sports.
“Democrats have been trying for years to authorize [men] participate in our nation’s women’s collegiate activities,” Steube said.
“It’s absolutely absurd that we have to pass a bill that says only women can participate in women’s sports!”
The Biden administration, alongside other Democrats, has taken sweeping steps over the past four years to allow trans athletes to participate in girls’ and women’s sports.
On January 20, 2021, just hours after taking office, President Biden issued a decree on “Preventing and combating discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation”.
That order included a section that said: “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to restrooms, locker rooms, or school sports.” »
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Some on the left have called for an end to trans inclusion efforts. (Mark Kerrison/In images via Getty Images)
Biden issued a general rule in April clarifying that Title IX’s ban on “sex” discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and “pregnancy or related conditions.” The administration insisted that the regulations do not address athlete eligibility. However, several experts presented evidence told PK Press Club Digital in June that it would ultimately put more biological males in women’s sports.
Democrats have proposed other federal legislation that would allow for greater transgender inclusion in women’s sports. These include the Equality Actwhich was proposed in 2019 and underwent revisions that would “require public schools to allow biologically male athletes who identify as transgender on women’s sports teams.”
In March 2023, Democrats advocated for a transgender bill of rights, proposing a resolution “recognizing that it is the duty of the federal government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights.” The resolution specifically called for federal law to ensure that biological males can “participate in sports on teams and programs that best match their gender identity; [and] use school facilities that best match their gender identity.
However, those positions appeared to backfire in the November election, as Trump and Republicans hit Democratic opponents with television ads about their support for trans inclusion.
A national exit poll conducted by the legislative action committee Concerned Women for America (CW) found that 70 percent of moderate voters saw a problem with “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls’ and women’s sports and to boys and transgender men using girls’ and women’s sports.” bathrooms” as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important”.
“It was an opportunity to turn a new page, to abandon party politics and finally put people first over Washington politics. But unfortunately, it remained almost a complete party vote, with just two Democrats willing to affirm and protect Title IX protections,” the CWA lawmaker said. » Strategist Macy Petty told PK Press Club Digital.
“This vote was not about a complex political issue, but about a self-evident truth that civilization has recognized since creation. When abandoned, as we have seen, women and girls face devastating consequences that require moral clarity to correct and that has been harder to correct and harder to find here in Washington.
