House Republicans on Thursday passed legislation that seeks to ban transgender women and girls from participating in school sports on teams that match their gender identity.
The legislation — slammed by Democrats as a “vile” attempt by GOP lawmakers “to weaponize hate against a small group of students for political gain” — has no chance to pass the Democratic-led Senate, and would be vetoed by President Biden, the White House said this week.
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H.R. 734, which was introduced in February by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), would amend Title XI — a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools — to recognize gender as being “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The measure was approved Thursday by a 219-to-203 vote.
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House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks as GOP women members hold an event before the vote to prohibit transgender women and girls from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Republicans say the aim of the bill is to “protect” women’s sports, while opponents call the legislation just the latest example of GOP lawmakers’ “hateful and coordinated assault on LGBTQI+ kids that we’ve seen playing out across the country through countless pieces of anti-trans legislation,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx).
It’s also an empty attempt to rile up conservatives while wasting time not working on any meaningful legislation, according to Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign.
“Rather than focus their energy on doing literally anything to improve the lives of children, House Republicans have prioritized attacking transgender youth purely as a political ploy,” she told the Daily News in a statement.
[ Biden blames ‘MAGA extremists’ for advancing ‘hateful and extreme’ law targeting trans children ]
“As gun violence plagues our schools, anti-equality politicians decided the most pressing priority for the House was to ban trans girls of all ages from playing on school sports teams with their friends,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), chairman of the Equality Caucus. “These extreme politicians are trying to distract from the fact that they have no solutions for the problems facing everyday Americans, and trans kids are paying the price.”
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Republicans celebrate passage in the House of a bill that would bar federally supported schools and colleges from allowing transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male to compete on girls or women’s sports teams, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 20, 2023. He is flanked at left by Macy Petty, a volleyball player who talked about competing against a transgender athlete, and Selina Soule, right, a Connecticut track and field athlete who sued the state over a transgender policy. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
The move is a “cynical attack against some of the most vulnerable youth in our country,” said Deirdre Schifeling, the national political director for the American Civil Liberties Union. “Instead of governing responsibly, solving the debt limit, and passing legislation that the American people actually want and need, this House majority is legislating discrimination and hate towards schoolchildren.”
[ Florida board votes to expand ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law to all grades as state passes 3 anti-trans bills ]
So far this year, more than 450 bills attacking the rights of trans youth have been introduced in state legislatures across the nation.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who is a “proud mom of an incredible trans kid,” said legislation such as H.R. 734 tell “some of the most vulnerable children in our country that they do not belong.”
FILE – A protester holds a poster calling for lawmakers to protect trans children in Jackson, Miss., Feb. 15, 2023. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)
A 2022 national survey on LGBTQ youth mental health by the Trevor Project — the world’s largest suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ youth — found that nearly half of transgender women and girls reported “seriously” considering suicide in the past year, while one in five trans or nonbinary respondents reported they attempted suicide.
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“Shame on you,” Jayapal said, referring to her Republican colleagues.
U.S. House Republicans pass anti-trans school sports ban
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