The 119th American Congress has indicated that taking legislative action to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls’ sports will be a top priority this month.
The house lines package for the 119th Congress was published this week, and the first step in the agenda is a bill that would create Title IX revisions that would allow athletes to compete only in the gender category they were assigned at birth.
“A bill to amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of such law in the field of athletics, sex shall be recognized solely on the basis of an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” the first point in the final section of the package reads.
The package stated that the bill would be the first of twelve bills to be considered separately, with an hour of debate.
Republicans regained control of the White House and Senate while retaining the House of Representatives in the November elections after a heated campaign season in which trans inclusion in women’s sports became a key issue.
President-elect Donald Trump pledged to implement a complete ban on trans athletes in women’s sports, with near-unanimous support from Republican allies.
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Currently, 25 states in the US have passed laws to restrict or prevent trans athletes from competing in women’s sports. But the other 25 states have no such laws and many, like California, have even passed laws to specifically allow trans athletes to compete against women or girls.
But even states that have passed laws to prevent trans athletes in women’s sports have had their laws thrown out by federal judges this year. Judges Landya McCafferty of New Hampshire and M. Hannah Lauck of Virginia each adopted a ruling in 2024 that allowed biological males to play on high school football and tennis teams. Both judges were appointed by former President Obama in early 2010.
Meanwhile, Democrats have passed several bills that would allow trans inclusion in women’s sports nationally, including the Equality Act and the Transgender Bill of Rights.
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It was an issue that sparked fierce criticism of Democrats and the Biden administration from the day President Biden took office in January 2021.
On his first day on the job he issued a executive order on “Preventing and combating discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.” The order included a section that said: “Children should be able to learn without worrying about being denied access to the restroom, locker room or school sports.”
The administration then issued a sweeping rule in April clarifying that Title IX’s ban on “sex” discrimination in schools also includes discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and “pregnancy or related circumstances.” The government emphasized that the regulation does not cover eligibility for athletics. Several experts evidence presented told Fox News Digital in June that it would ultimately bring more biological males into women’s sports.
Several states have filed lawsuits and passed their own laws to address this problem Supreme Court then voted 5-4 in August to reject an emergency request from the Biden administration to enforce its sweeping changes in those states.
The issue emerged as one of the key vulnerabilities in the campaign for Vice President Harris and Democrats across the country in recent elections.
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A national exit poll Research from the legislative action committee Concerned Women for America found that 70% of moderate voters identified with the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls’ and women’s sports, and transgender boys and men using girls’ and women’s restrooms.” important to them.
And 6% said it was the most important issue, while 44% said it was “very important.”
Several Democrats have since withdrawn their support for it. Biden’s Department of Education has abandoned a proposed rule change punished schools for preventing trans athletes from participating in women’s sports in December. The rule was proposed in April 2023 but is now just a failed venture as Biden prepares to leave office.
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