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The bill would deny trans women and girls the opportunity to compete in sports that align with their gender identity.
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said he is reintroducing legislation banning transgender women and girls from competition in scholastic sports that align with their gender identity in schools that receive federal funding.
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The bill, S.613 the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, was first introduced in 2023 by Tuberville.
The bill states that “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth” and that it would be a violation of the law “for a recipient of Federal funds who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.”
More than 20 senators have co-sponsored the legislation including Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, and Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana among others.
“This legislation would ban federal funding from going toward athletic programs that allow biological men to participate in women's and girls' sports,” Tuberville said in a post to social media. “This would apply to biological men and boys who identify as transgender and seek to participate in events and leagues for women and girls.”
Tuberville, a former football coach at Auburn University and the University of Mississippi, announced his intentions less than a month after the Biden administration withdrew its attempt to add a new rule recognizing trans rights in scholastic sports through Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
“The new rule puts in the regulation itself that discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation violates Title IX,” the administration told The Advocate during a press call when the final rule was issued last year. “And if, in an investigation, we determine that a student is harassed based on gender identity and subject to a hostile environment that meets the standard in these new regulations, then we would be able to find a violation, and we would be able to ensure that the school comes into compliance under Title IX.”
Tuberville believes Title IX is “one of the best things to come out of Washington,” he said in a statement provided to Fox News, but that it has been “destroyed” in an apparent reference to the Biden administration’s failed efforts to revise Title IX.
“While I’m glad that the Biden administration ultimately rescinded the proposed rule, Congress has to ensure this never happens again,” Tuberville said.
The bill is expected to receive a floor vote in the new Republican-controlled Senate.
