(TheConservativeNews.org) – The “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023” would, if passed, discriminate against biologically-male transgender student athletes who want to compete against biologically-female athletes, President Joe Biden said Monday, vowing to veto the bill.
Riley Gaines, a former All-American swimmer from the University of Kentucky, didn’t hold back when reacting to President Biden’s promise to veto a bill.
Gaines said Biden’s veto promise was evidence he was putting a “radical minority” ahead of women across the country.
“The President has declared that science, truth, and common sense no longer matter. In opposing this bill, President Biden is catering to a radical minority at the expense of women, who are 51% of the population,” Gaines said.
“Equal opportunity, privacy, and safety in our sports shouldn’t be controversial. The women who once advocated for Title IX should be outraged as this goes against everything they fought for. Female athletes of all ages, levels, and sports deserve better,” she added.
The House bill, H.R. 734, which was introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) and is expected to come up for a vote this week, would deny Title IX funding to educational institutions that “permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designed for women or girls.”
In a statement, the White House said it “strongly opposes” the bill on the grounds that it would “deny access to sports for many families by establishing an absolute ban on transgender students.”
With the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023,” Republicans have “chosen to prioritize policies that discriminate against children,” Biden says:
“Instead of addressing the pressing issues that families and students face today—such as raising teacher pay, keeping guns out of schools, addressing the mental health crisis our youth face, and helping students learn and recover academically from unprecedented disruptions—Congressional Republicans have instead chosen to prioritize policies that discriminate against children.”
“Discrimination has no place in our nation’s schools or on our playing fields,” Biden declares, even though the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023” seeks to protect female athletes from unfair competition that threatens to deny them opportunities, such as scholarships.
As part of the bill, educational institutions that receive Title IX funding from the federal government would not be allowed to “permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designed for women or girls.”
The bill says that the sex of an athlete would be recognized only by their “reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” The legislation would allow transgender female athletes to train or practice in a girls’ athletic program but only if no biological female athlete is deprived of a roster spot.
Democrats have made it clear that most or all of them will oppose the bill on the floor. The House Education and Workforce Committee approved the legislation in a 25-17 vote – every Republican voted for it, and only Democrats voted against it.
