Senate Dems Show Spine, And National Sports Ban Bill Dies

The failed legislation reflects a wider effort to disallow trans women (or anyone suspected of being a trans woman) from women’s sports and spaces.

Republicans called it the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.” Democrats dubbed it “The GOP Child Predator Empowerment Act”. The Senate clerk said it didn’t have the votes.

With that, Senate Democrats have once again staved off federal legislation that would effectively ban trans women in women’s sports.

The vote was split exactly on party lines following its passage in the majority-Republican House in January. Democratic Senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Peter Welch of Vermont, as well as Republicans Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, did not vote for reasons unknown.

There was little debate on the Senate floor. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, a Democrat, said she opposed the bill because it was a states’ rights issue, not a federal one.

Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama spent nearly twenty minutes espousing anti-trans rhetoric, including flat-out falsehoods.

For example, he falsely asserted that male boxers had competed in the women’s category during the Paris 2024 Olympics, with the implication being the boxers are trans. But the boxers in question are not male, nor are they trans.

Nonetheless, two athletes — assigned female at birth — faced an extensive harassment campaign at the hands of anti-trans extremists, including J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk, who promoted the false assertion that these Olympians were secretly trans women.

One of them, Algeria’s Imane Khelif, is now suing both Rowling and Musk under France’s anti-cyberbullying laws.

Evidently, Tuberville also cannot discern between trans men and trans women. He railed against (unverified) claims that some states have women's teams that are “all boys.”

“We have women's teams in some states participating on the high school level that are all transgender boys,” Tuberville said. His bill makes no mention of trans boys or men; it exclusively targets trans women.

The failed legislation reflects a wider effort to disallow trans women (or, like Khelif, anyone suspected of being a trans woman) from women’s sports and spaces. States and sports leagues across the country have begun enacting similar policies.

President Donald Trump attempted to establish a federal ban of this nature via an executive order during his first few days.

In a statement to the press, the American Civil Liberties Union praised those who voted against the policy. “As anyone paying attention to the actions of the Trump administration can tell you, this bill is simply one part of a sweeping effort to push transgender people out of public life altogether,” said Mike Zamore, National Director of Policy and Government Affairs. “We need more attention on actually ensuring fair and equal opportunity for all girls and women, not inflicting invasive and humiliating checks and bullying on kids to serve adults’ political purposes. We are thankful to the senators who rejected this ugly effort to codify discrimination within a historic civil rights law, and we will always fight for the freedom of all young people to be themselves at school, including on the playing field.”

Correction note: A previous version of this story listed Senator Elisa Slotkin’s state as Minnesota, but it is in fact Michigan. The story has been corrected to note this.