The US House of Representatives passed its first bill of the 119th Congress on Tuesday, voting in favor of the Women and Girls in Sports Protection Act.
All Republican representatives voted for the bill, but only two Democrats, Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and Vicente Gonzales, D-Texas, voted to pass it. The remaining 206 House Democrats all voted against. Rep. Don Davis, DN.C., voted “present.”
After the bill passed, Republican congressional representatives and women’s rights advocates condemned the Democrats who voted against it at a news conference on Capitol Hill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said it was “disgraceful” that only two Democrats voted to pass the bill.
“We had two Democrats join us, but that’s a shame, there should be many, many more. In fact, I argue that every member of this body voted for common sense and to protect women. But of a for whatever reason, for politics, I think they chose not to do that,” Johnson said.
“The American people sent a clear message in November, they want us to return to common sense, but it seems that some of our friends in the other party are ignoring that plea.”
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Mike Johnson holds up the gavel after being re-elected as speaker on the first day of the 119th Congress at the US Capitol on January 3, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines, a prominent advocate for female athletes’ rights who is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA over its stance on allowing trans athletes to compete as women, also lamented the 206 Democrats who voted against the bill.
Gaines took aim at Democrats who argued against the new law on the grounds that it would result in adolescent girls being screened for sports eligibility.
“We heard about things like genitalia, we heard that girls would be asked to show what’s in their underwear, we heard that they would have to show internal and external anatomy, inspections, Taliban-like enforcers, hiring predators to reaching out to law enforcement on and on and on, weird fears about predators, but that’s what Democrats do best,” Gaines said.
Minority Leader of the House Hakeem JeffriesDN.Y., tweeted about Bluesky criticizing the legislation on Tuesday, making unsubstantiated claims that the law would “unleash horrific child predators on girls and young women.”
Jeffries’ office has not provided a substantial explanation of how the law would do this. When asked for comment from Pakinomist Digital, a spokesperson said only, “The post speaks for itself.”
Gaines also criticized those who said the bill was “a waste of time.”
“I heard this bill is a waste of time, and let me tell you the message I got when I heard it is that I’m a waste of time. Girls around the country, like me, are a waste of time. Your daughters are a waste of time for all but two House Democrats.”
Riley Gaines, now a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum, edged Lia Thomas for fifth in the 200 freestyle finals at the March 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. (Brett Davis-USA Today Sports)
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., who reintroduced the bill in the House after a failed attempt to pass it in 2023, pointed to Democrats’ track record of enabling and celebrating trans inclusion in women’s sports.
“Democrats have tried for years to allow biologics [men] to compete in our nation’s women’s collegiate activities,” Steube said.
“It’s absolutely absurd that we actually have to pass a bill that says only women can be in women’s sports!”
The Biden administration, along with other Democrats, has taken sweeping steps over the past four years to enable trans athletes in women’s and girls’ sports.
On January 20, 2021, just hours after President Biden took office, he issued a announcement on “Preventing and combating discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.”
This order contained a section that read: “Children must be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the bathroom, locker room or school sports.”
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Some on the left have called for an end to trans inclusion efforts. (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)
Biden issued a sweeping rule clarifying that Title IX’s ban on “sex discrimination” in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and “pregnancy or related conditions,” in April. The administration insisted that the regulation does not address athletic eligibility. However, more experts evidence presented to Pakinomist Digital in June that it would eventually put more biological males in women’s sports.
Democrats have proposed other federal legislation that would allow for more transgender inclusion in women’s sports. These include The Equality Actwhich was proposed in 2019 and has seen revisions that “would force public schools to allow biologically male athletes who identify as transgender on girls’ sports teams.”
In March 2023, Democrats advocated for a transgender rights bill and proposed a resolution “recognizing that it is the duty of the federal government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights.” The resolution specifically called for federal legislation to ensure that biological males can “participate in team sports and in programs that best match their gender identity; [and] use school facilities that best suit their gender identity.”
Those attitudes appeared to backfire in the November election, however, when Trump and Republicans hammered Democratic opponents with TV ads touting their support for trans inclusion.
ONE national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CW) Legislative Action Committee found that 70% of moderate voters viewed the issue as “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men who play girls’ and women’s sports, and transgender boys and men who use girls’ and women’s bathrooms” as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”
“This was an opportunity to turn over a new leaf, to leave partisan politics behind to finally put people before Washington politics. But unfortunately, it remained almost an all-party vote, with only two Democrats willing to affirm and protect Title IX’s protections ,” CWA Legislative Act. Strategist Macy Petty told Pakinomist Digital.
“This vote was not about a complicated political issue, but a self-evident truth that civilization has recognized since its creation. When abandoned, as we have seen, women and girls face devastating consequences that require moral clarity to remedy . And it’s been harder and harder to come by here in Washington.”
