Senate Democrats Shut Down Transgender Athlete Ban
The bill would have rewritten federal law to prohibit schools allowing transgender athletes to compete from receiving federal funds.
Democrats in the U.S. Senate blocked a Republican bill attempting to ban transgender athletes from women’s and girl’s sports at educational institutions.
The bill, S. 9, sought to rewrite Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational programs or activities, by explicitly stopping federal funds from going to institutions that allow transgender athletes to compete on female-designated competitive or elite sports teams.
The prohibition would not apply to co-ed or intramural sports leagues, nor does it prevent cisgender females from being allowed to try out for male-designated sports teams if their school does not offer that sport for females.
The Senate voted 51-45, along party lines, to proceed to debate on the bill. However, because the vote fell far short of the 60-vote threshold needed to invoke cloture, it cannot move forward.
A nearly identical bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year on a largely party-line vote, with two Texas Democrats aligning with Republicans.
The failure of the proposed transgender sports ban — which Republicans have made one of their primary legislative focuses — demonstrates one of the few limits on GOP control of Washington, despite Republicans controlling the White House, the Supreme Court, and both chambers of Congress.
The defeat of the ban comes as various states across the country continue to push bills banning transgender competitors from female sports.
It also comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order threatening to pull federal funds from school districts allowing transgender females to compete in female-designated sports.
Republicans almost universally oppose transgender participation in women’s sports because they believe transgender women retain physiological advantages over cisgender women, giving them an unfair advantage in athletic competitions.
Many Republicans also reject the idea that a person — even with hormones and surgery — can “change” their gender, which conservatives say is fixed at birth and based on one’s biological sex.
“Around the country we have seen men — biological men who identify as women — take up spaces and medals in athletics meant for actual women,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in championing the bill. “This is a matter of fairness and equality.”
Democrats, on the other hand, argue that categorical bans are discriminatory and that individual sporting bodies should determine athlete eligibility. They also argue that revising Title IX to define “sex” as only based on a person’s assigned sex at birth is part of a larger effort to roll back various legal protections for transgender people — and, ultimately, LGBTQ people more broadly.
“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,” argued U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), an out lesbian.
Civil rights advocates and pro-LGBTQ organizations praised Democrats for standing firm and not allowing the bill to advance.
“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,” Mike Zamore, the national director of policy and government affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
“Every child should have the opportunity to experience the simple joys of being young and making memories with their friends,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “But bills like these send the message that transgender kids don’t deserve the same opportunities to thrive as their peers simply because of who they are.”
Despite the media hype, transgender participation in sports remains exceedingly rare, not only because transgender people comprise a minute portion of the U.S. population but also because a minority of them actually participate in school activities, let alone sports.
A 2020 analysis from The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization, found that only 17% of transgender or nonbinary youth aged 13-18 participate in organized sports. Similarly, at the college level, NCAA President Charlie Baker told U.S. senators at a December hearing that fewer than 10 transgender athletes are participating in collegiate sports.
Advocates for Trans Equality, a pro-transgender group, hailed the bill’s failure to pass as a “major victory” in the fight against “extremism.”
“Thanks to the overwhelming support of thousands of trans constituents and their allies who contacted their senators, the Senate firmly rejected the campaign to villainize and exclude trans women and girls from school sports,” Caius Willingham, a policy analyst for the organization, said in a statement.
“[Senate Bill 9] is discriminatory, ignores scientific research and does nothing to address real issues in women’s athletics, such as unequal access to funding and facilities, abuse by coaches, physicians, and other trusted adults, and the unconscionable gender pay gap in professional sports,” Willingham added. “We are grateful for the Senators who have stood up against the Project 2025 bullies in the name of fairness, safety, and respect for all student athletes.”
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