By CatholicVote | Created at 2025-01-16 01:31:14 | Updated at 2025-01-16 05:52:24
4 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // The House bill to protect female athletes from competing against males in girls’ and women’s sports passed Tuesday with two Democrats supporting the bill.
As CatholicVote reported Tuesday, “The bill aims to revoke federal funding from schools or athletic programs that allow males to participate in women’s athletic programs.”
Bill H.R. 28, also known as the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” aims to effectively define sex “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” according to its text.
Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez were the only Democrats to vote in favor of the bill, which passed 218-206.
Cuellar is known as the only remaining pro-life Democrat in Congress.
Gonzalez said in a statement Tuesday after the vote, “I believe that there should be rules to keep our sports fair and that boys should not play in girls sports.”
“Members of Congress must have the freedom to vote in a manner representative of their district. As Democrats, we should not be afraid to vote our district’s values because we’re afraid of Washington,” Gonzalez added.
Other Democratic representatives have expressed concerns about men participating in women’s sports.
Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton told a New York Times reporter, “I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.”
“But as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that,” he said days after Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in the 2024 election.
Following this statement, Moulton received backlash from the Democratic Party and LGBTQ activists, who called for his resignation, as CatholicVote previously reported.
New York Rep. Tom Suozzi, however, made a similar statement: “I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports.”
Nonetheless, neither representative supported the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” Tuesday, with Moulton calling the bill “too extreme.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-LA, stated: “This is a great day for women in America. House Republicans yet again stood up for women.”
“Today, the House voted to uphold common sense,” Johnson continued. “We voted to require all schools receiving federal funds to uphold the original meaning of Title IX and keep biological men out of women’s sports.”
