Jan 14, 2025 - Politics & Policy

House passes bill to limit trans women's participation in sports

Andrew Solender

Rep. Greg Steube, wearing a cowboy hat and a brown suit while standing in a sandstone brick corridor. — Rep. Greg Steube at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 5, 2024. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.

The House voted Tuesday to pass legislation restricting transgender women from participating in women's school athletics programs.

Why it matters: It's the third Republican messaging bill that has seen increased support from Democrats after the party's 2024 election loss.

The bill passed purely along party lines in 2023, but Reps. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) voted for it this time, with Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.) voting "present."
Several Democrats have told Axios the 2024 election results have fueled new openness to the GOP's culture wars bills.

The details: The three-page "'Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act," introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), would prohibit any athletic programs that receive federal funds from allowing transgender women to participate in women's sports.

It also directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study into the "benefits to women or girls of participating in single sex sports that would be lost by allowing males to participate."

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House passes bill to limit trans women's participation in sports

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