WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate failed to advance a measure Monday night that would bar transgender students from participating on women’s school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
The bill would help codify into law President Donald Trump’s sweeping February executive order, which carries out this exact ban and threatens to rescind federal funds from “educational programs” if schools fail to comply.
The move also reflects a broader GOP-led push to enact anti-trans legislation. Across the country, an increasing number of states have passed laws banning trans students from participating in sports that align with their gender identity.
The party-line 51-45 vote could not garner 60 senators to break through the legislative filibuster.
Four senators did not vote, including Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming as well as Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Peter Welch of Vermont.
Ahead of the vote, Sen. Tammy Baldwin said on the Senate floor Monday that she stood in “strong opposition to any attempt by the federal government to meddle in decisions about who can and cannot participate in school sports.”
“This is a decision for local communities, where players and parents can participate in that discussion at the local level. This is a decision for sports leagues to thoughtfully craft policy that actually takes seriously what is best for all players, not blanket mandates that will undoubtedly have unintended consequences for the safety of all students,” the Wisconsin Democrat said.
Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville reintroduced the measure in the Senate in January, and the bill gained several Republican co-sponsors.
“Thankfully, President Trump just signed an executive order that said, ‘No more — no more federal money to any state that allows this to happen,’ but you have to understand, this only lasts as long as President Trump’s in office, so we need this vote … to pass so we can make this into law,” Tuberville said on the Senate floor before the vote.
Title IX
The bill seeks to amend Title IX so that “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law that bars schools that receive federal funding from practicing sex-based discrimination.
Trump’s executive order asks federal agencies to interpret Title IX in a way that complies with the order.
The president’s initiative provoked complex questions about enforcement mechanisms and consequences for schools that do not comply. The administration has already launched a number of investigations across the country.
House action
Meanwhile, the House passed a similar bill to the Senate’s in January, which GOP Rep. Greg Steube of Florida introduced.
That measure advanced 218-206, with all House Democrats in opposition except for Texas U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez. North Carolina Democratic Rep. Don Davis voted “present.”
The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, noted that there has been “considerable disinformation and misinformation about what the inclusion of transgender youth in sports entails” and that trans students’ sports participation “has been a non-issue.”
At least 25 states have enacted a law that bans trans students from taking part in sports that align with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an independent think tank.
This story first appeared on Washington State Standard.