By Scott Wong
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House passed legislation Thursday that would ban transgender women and girls from competing in female school athletics — the latest GOP salvo in the intensifying culture wars over transgender rights in America.
The bill, authored by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., would amend Title IX to bar schools that receive federal funding from allowing people “whose sex is male” to participate in sports designated for women or girls.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The bill passed on a strictly party-line 219-203 vote, with all Republicans voting yes and all Democrats voting no. But it will go nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The White House has also said President Joe Biden would veto the measure, which “targets people for who they are and therefore is discriminatory,” if it were to make it to his desk.
Before the vote, House Republican women rallied behind the bill, with GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., a former high school lacrosse player, calling the transgender sports ban "a winning issue across America."
Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., another member of Republican leadership, was more graphic in her remarks.