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≡ LEGISLATION ≡
“It shall be a violation … for a recipient of Federal financial assistance who operates, sponsors, or facilitates an athletics program or activity to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designed for women or girls.
“For the purposes of this subsection, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
That language is from H.R. 28, The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Florida) on Friday, 3 January, amending Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. It would apply to all collegiate sport (and more) and was referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
This follows one of the promises made during the 2024 election campaign by President-elect Donald Trump and fellow Republicans, and was included as part of the rules package for the 119th Congress.
Steube had 56 cosponsors for the bill – all Republicans – and said in a statement:
“Americans have loudly spoken that they do not want men stealing sports records from women, entering their daughters’ locker rooms, replacing female athletes on teams, and taking their daughters’ scholarship opportunities. My legislation stands for truth, safety, and reality: men have no place in women’s sports. Republicans have promised to protect women’s sports, and under President Trump’s leadership, we will fulfill this promise.”
The bill allows women’s teams to have men involved in practices – as is common, for example, in women’s basketball – “as long as no female is deprived of a roster spot on a team or sport, opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, scholarship, admission to an educational institution, or any other benefit that accompanies participating in the athletic program or activity.”
Title IX applies to all educational entities which receive Federal support, at any grade level, from elementary school up, and would override any competing State legislation.
This is the third try on this bill for Steube, who pursued legislation in the 117th and 118th Congresses. With Republican control of the House, the bill passed the in the 118th Congress, but was never brought to the Senate floor. Republicans also control the Senate now, but the bill will have to pass a possible Democratic filibuster. Trump has indicated he will sign the bill.
The language of this bill is clear and definitive and has none of the judgement calls requested in the International Olympic Committee’s 2021 non-binding Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations.
However, it does follow the path used by the IOC when questioned about boxers (and eventual gold medalists) Yu-ting Lin (TPE) and Imane Khelif (ALG) in the Paris 2024 Olympic women’s boxing tournament; both had birth certificates identifying them as female.
Importantly, H.R. 28 does not touch the continuously-debated area of differences in sex development, in which South Africa’s two-time Olympic women’s 800 m champion Caster Semenya continues to try and overturn the World Athletics regulations which do not allow her to run under her natural conditions.
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