GOP-led House passes bill to prevent biological men from competing in women’s sports
The measure passed without votes from Democrats
The GOP-led House passed a bill on Thursday to prevent biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports in public schools.
The bill, formally titled the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, passed in a 219-203 vote along party lines.
"This is a great day for America and a great day for girls and women and for fairness in sports," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said the vote should have been unanimous, arguing that allowing biological men who identify as transgender to play in women's sports is unfair to female athletes.
"Men shouldn't be able to compete in women's sports," he said. "We need to re-inject common sense back into this debate."
House Republican Whip Tom Emmer explained why the legislation was introduced and passed.
"The left lunacy is robbing women and girls of equal opportunities in the name of inclusion. That's why House Republicans today passed this bill to protect the safety and fairness that we should have in women's sports and to make sure that no female athlete is ever forced to compete against a biological male," he said.
Senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation Sarah Parshall said it's unbelievable that a law like this needed to be passed.
"We're finding conservatives are the ones who are arguing for biological reality and the celebration of Title Nine which was passed to ensure that girls and women had equal educational opportunity," Parshall said on the Thursday edition of the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show.
"I can't believe that we're having to pass a law like this," she continued. "But unfortunately, we see a lot of progressive ideology coming out of the Department of Education."