NWLC Responds to House Passage of H.R. 734, the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act”
(Washington, DC) This morning, the House voted to pass H.R. 734, the Politics Over Participation Act (or the so-called, “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act”), which would amend Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to ban transgender and intersex women and girls from playing school sports with other women and girls. H.R. 734 is the first known federal standalone bill targeting transgender people to move in either chamber of Congress. The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and Women’s Sports Foundation led a letter joined by almost 100 state and national women’s and girls’ rights organizations vehemently opposing H.R. 734.
The following is a statement by Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of NWLC:
“This bill, deceptively claiming to “protect the women and girls in sports”, does nothing to address the actual discrimination that women and girls face. Rather, it coopts the language of women’s rights to target a group that’s already so vulnerable. Its real purpose is to deny trans, non-binary, and intersex students equal access to educational opportunities, and the important life lessons and benefits everyone gains from playing sports, while putting all women and girls at risk of being subjected to body policing and being forced to “prove” their gender.
“What’s clear is its supporters fundamentally do not believe in the existence of trans people and that trans girls are girls: their lies, misgendering, and cruel rhetoric demonstrate this beyond dispute. This bill would grotesquely distort Title IX and deeply undermine its broad mandate to protect all students from sex discrimination. No one should be denied an educational opportunity simply because of who they are.”
