The Biden administration announced on Monday its strong opposition to the House passage of the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” (H.R. 734), which would prohibit “school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls.” The bill will likely be heard and voted on in the House this week.
The bill was introduced by Greg Steube (R-Fla.) with 93 cosponsors, and was approved by the House Education and Workforce Committee last month in a party-line vote. The legislation amends Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, barring “individuals of the male sex to participate in programs or activities that are designated for women or girls.”
The bill summary states: “(Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs or activities, including in public elementary and secondary schools and in colleges and universities.) Under the bill, sex is based on an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
According to the Biden administration’s letter, “H.R. 734 would deny access to sports for many families by establishing an absolute ban on transgender students — even those as young as elementary schoolers — playing on a team consistent with their gender identity,” adding, “Politicians should not dictate a one-size-fits-all requirement that forces coaches to remove kids from their teams… If the President were presented with H.R. 734, he would veto it.”
The administration’s opposition to the bill echos comments made by Democrats during last month’s hearing with the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
The Epoch Times, reporting on the hearing, shared:
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) accused Republicans of “villainizing” transgender athletes. She asked her colleagues to “reject this fear-mongering, harmful bill.”
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) asked: “Why can’t we leave trans people alone? They’re not bothering anyone.”
He said the United States has an “ugly history of discrimination” against people who are different.
“Who in the heck are we, as Americans, and as a human race, to be so darn uncomfortable with an individual or group of people that is different from who we are?”
“I just want my Republican colleagues to just take a breath. Stop. Relax. The trans community is not bothering you.”
H.R. 734 is the antithesis to the proposed Title IX changes supported by the Biden administration’s Department of Education (DOE) that would define the term “sex” to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The proposed changes are open to public comment until May 6.
The Epoch Times reported:
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce as well as an original co-sponsor of H.R. 734, criticized the DOE’s proposed rule in an April 6 press release.
“At the hands of the Biden administration, Americans are witnessing a major shift in the country, where woke, far Left politics are advancing inequality and unfairness,” she said in a statement.
“This proposed rule takes on a totally perverse interpretation of Title IX that completely ignores the biological differences between boys and girls and men and women.”
Nowhere in the Biden administration letter of opposition is acknowledgment of the biological differences between the two sexes. Instead, the letter is filled with woke nonsense that the bill would “stigmatize” transgender youth who are already facing a “mental health crisis, and that “discrimination has no place in our nation’s schools or on our playing fields.”
Caroline Medina, director of LGBTQI+ Policy at American Progress, claimed in a statement that H.R. 734 was an “openly discriminatory bill.” She added, “The effort to exclude transgender and intersex youth from participating in athletic programs in schools is part of a larger, coordinated campaign by MAGA extremists to attack and erase the identity of transgender and other LGBTQI+ kids in schools and beyond.”
Supporting the bill, Burgess Owens (R-Utah) stood tall during the committee hearing, reportedly stating, “We should not allow biological men to steal from women and girls their spot on a sports team. We need more people with old-school courage to stand up and say as much.” Owens is right. The government should not change policies and make laws that defy science.
H.R. 734 will likely pass the House and has a chance to pass the Senate as well. However, Biden will then veto the bill, as promised. But the public debate on government’s role regarding transgender policies is far from over. This bill won’t be the last.
