A bill that bans transgender women and girls from competing in sports cleared its first hurdle on Thursday, as the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives succeeded in passing it.
The bill — the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act — passed by 219-203 along party lines.
“Biological women and girls should only be competing against other biological women and girls,” Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) said, via The Hill. “And I don’t care how many surgeries you have, I don’t care how many chemicals you put into your body. You’re not going to be a biological woman.”
The bill is unlikely to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, and even if it did, it would face a potential veto by President Joe Biden. The White House has said as much, arguing that the ban is both “unnecessary” and “discriminatory.”
“This is about protecting women’s sports now and into the future,” Elise Stefanik, GOP conference chair from New York, said at a press conference before the vote, per The Hill.
Title IX, a longstanding civil rights law that prevents discrimination based on a person’s biological sex, would be changed to reflect that a person’s sex would be understood to be reflective of the “reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The bill would cut federal funding for athletic programs which allow transgender women on female sports teams.
However, transgender women can practice or train with female athletes as long as they do not take up the roster of biological females.
Although this is the first time a bill has been taken up by Congress which would explicitly restrict the rights of transgender people, at least 21 states have laws that ban transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.
Texas has enacted legislation regarding transgender athletes, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), whose daughter is transgender, said that the law would not be able to be enforced in a way that is not invasive.
“If a young girl—if your daughter—doesn’t look feminine enough, is she subject to an examination?” she said via The Hill.
Jayapal is one of the members of Congress behind the Transgender Bill of Rights.