WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Thursday passed legislation that would ban transgender women and girls from participating in athletic programs designed for women, the latest in a nationwide effort by conservatives to curtail transgender rights as they make culture issues a centerpiece of their political message to make.
The bill, passed entirely along party lines by a vote of 219 to 203, was the latest effort by House Republicans to address a powerful social issue that has rallied their base and been championed by Republican lawmakers at the state level.
The bill has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate or being signed by President Biden. In a government policy statement, the White House said Mr Biden would veto it if it landed on his desk. A national ban that does not take competitiveness or rank into account “targets people for who they are and is therefore discriminatory,” the White House said.
When debating the bill, Republicans tried to present themselves as the party of common sense fighting an extreme left-wing agenda.
“We’re in a battle for the survival of women’s sport,” said Florida Republican Representative Aaron Bean, adding, “Not everyone has jumped at the deep end.”
Representative John W. Rose, Republican of Tennessee, said the issue was simple. “Biological males should compete with biological males, and biological females should compete with biological females,” he said. “Most Tennessee residents consider this common sense.”
But Democrats rejected the bill as “hateful” and “treacherous,” part of a “radical” education agenda that Republicans pushed in the majority in the early months.
Last month, House Republicans passed legislation that would require schools to make public library catalogs and curricula and require parental consent before honoring a student’s request to change their gender-identifying pronouns.
Democrats argued that legislation to ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports has helped fuel a hate campaign against transgender children, a vulnerable population with high rates of bullying, depression, anxiety and suicide attempts.
And they criticized Republicans for using a few examples from the ranks of elite sports of biological men competing against and beating women—examples, they argued, that have little to do with elementary and high school students who just want to be included in school activities .
“These bills are telling some of the most vulnerable children in our country that they don’t belong,” said Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat whose daughter is transgender. “Don’t use our kids as punching bags and endanger them.”
Democrats also argued that enforcing such a law would require invasive investigations to determine whether a student was biologically male or female. “How do you verify a girl’s reproductive anatomy?” said Mrs. Jayapal. “If your daughter doesn’t look feminine enough, will she be examined? This is absolutely absurd.”
Approximately 1.3 million adults and 300,000 children in the United States identify as transgender.
“Recognizing that we are all God’s children, I oppose this legislation,” said Representative Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat of California, “because trans children are all God’s children, belong in sports, schools, books, families and beyond. .”
She added: “Trans kids listen and hear what we say, and we don’t want to harm them, for any purpose, on the floor of this House.”
Ms Pelosi said the bill was an “insult” to the goals of fairness and inclusion intended by lawmakers who passed the groundbreaking Title IX legislation in 1972, which gave young women the same athletic opportunities as their male counterparts in schools.
The House bill would not completely exclude transgender women from participating in women’s sports. It includes the caveat that transgender athletes could train or practice with a women’s track and field team “so long as no woman is deprived of a place on a team or sport” or an opportunity for a scholarship or other benefit.
South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace offered an amendment to the bill to study the psychological effects on girls of allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports.
“This is not against the LGBTQ community,” she said. “We are pro-women today.”
