Biden Threatens to Veto GOP Bill Barring Transgender Athletes From Women’s Sports
The White House announced on April 17 that President Joe Biden “strongly opposes” and would veto a bill that would prohibit taxpayer-funded institutions from allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports.
The bill would “amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with [T]itle IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
In a Statement of Administration Policy, the White House claimed that the bill “would deny access to sports for many families by establishing an absolute ban on transgender students—even those as young as elementary schoolers—playing on a team consistent with their gender identity.” They called the proposed legislation “discriminatory.”
“Politicians should not dictate a one-size-fits-all requirement that forces coaches to remove kids from their teams. At a time when transgender youth already face a nationwide mental health crisis, with half of transgender youth in a recent survey saying they have seriously considered suicide, a national law that further stigmatizes these children is completely unnecessary, hurts families and students, and would only put students at greater risk. Discrimination has no place in our nation’s schools or on our playing fields,” said the White House.
“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,” they continued.
The bill stated that “it shall be a violation for a recipient of federal financial assistance 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.”
The proposed measure defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The bill would not “prohibit a recipient from permitting males to train or practice with an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls so long as no female is deprived of a roster spot on a team or sport, opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, scholarship, admission to an educational institution, or any other benefit that accompanies participating in the athletic program or activity.”
The proposed measure comes as the Biden administration has proposed a regulation that would largely prohibit transgender sports bans.
Given the White House’s veto threat, it is unlikely this bill would become law and it is unlikely Congress would be able to muster the necessary two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a veto. Even if the bill passes the GOP-controlled House, it would likely be dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
