The Senate has blocked the Republican-led effort to pass a federal ban on the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports. While Trump’s executive order on the same issue remains in effect (until repealed by a new president), this bill’s failure means an anti-trans sports ban will not be codified into federal law.
The so-called “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” introduced by Republican Sen Tommy Tuberville, would have amended Title IX in order to ban trans athletes from women’s sports at federally funded schools. Title IX is the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools, and the proposed legislation would have changed the definition of sex to be “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
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The bill passed the Republican-dominated House back in January, when two Texas Democrats (Reps Henry Cuellar and Vincente Gonzalez) broke with the party to vote in favor. While Republicans also hold the majority in the Senate, Democrats filibustered the bill, mandating a 60-vote threshold to pass.
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Senators voted along party lines, resulting in a 51-45 split. All Democrat senators who participated voted against the bill. Two abstained (Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Peter Welch of Vermont) along with two Republicans (Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming).
This vote comes nearly three months after NCAA President Charlie Baker admitted before a Senate panel that out of the more than 510,000 NCAA athletes, there are less than 10 who identify as transgender. Despite this, the NCAA has already begun barring transgender athletes to comply with Trump’s executive order.
Following the vote, Democrat senators tore into Republicans for continuing to distract the masses with culture wars.
“I think there are hundreds of thousands of athletes, there’s like two individuals that are actually in this situation,” Sen Gary Peters of Michigan said, per NBC News. “People are going to realize that it’s really been an issue that Republicans have been trying to exploit.”
“Look, if you’re running and you don’t have any other identity and you’re not known for fighting for people to have a decent living, to buy a home, to be able to bring the American dream to their families, these outside fringe issues are what is going to bring you down,” Sen Ruben Gallego of Arizona said.
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