Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube has introduced a bill which aims to ensure that women and girls sports remain a fair playing field by prohibiting the use of federal funds to support any athletic event where a biological male identifying as a woman attempts to compete against biological female athletes.
The “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” (H. R. 5603), was introduced this month to protect women and girls in competitive sports.
“With the House passage of H.R. 5 earlier this Congress, women and girls participating in competitive sports across the country are at risk of losing the equal playing field they were guaranteed by the Education Amendments of 1972,” Congressman Steube said in his January 14 press release. “We must protect our female athletes from being forced to compete against biological male athletes in competitive sports.”
The bill would require terms for gender in Title IX spending to be defined as that “determined by a physician at birth” instead of by a person seeking to “identify” as a gender.
Co-sponsor Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R, AZ) praised the bill for working to preserve women’s rights.
“We have heard the heartbreaking stories of young women and girls from across the country who compete in sports but are losing games and even scholarships to biological males who choose to identify as women and girls,” Lesko said. “These sports should be reserved for the women and girls who work hard and train for them, not men. I urge my colleagues to support this bill to help protect the future of women and girls’ sports.”
Another co-sponsor, Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R, MN) called the bill “common sense.”
“Common sense dictates that biological boys and men should not be allowed to compete against girls and women in competitive sports. Allowing this would severely undermine the integrity of women’s sports and, in some cases, put the safety of female athletes at risk,” Hagedorn said.
Steube recently blasted Democrats for refusing to support the bill. “It’s just fascinating that we are in a place in our country where you have to file bills to make it clear that women are actually going to be competing with women and women’s sports,” Steube told Fox host Tucker Carlson last week
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