Global Courant 2023-04-17 23:45:41
The White House vowed Monday that President Biden would veto a bill that would bar biological men from participating in women’s sports if it passed both houses to Congress.
Law for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sport, or HR 734was introduced by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., and is expected to go to a vote on the House floor sometime this week.
“The administration strongly opposes the House passing H.R. 734,” the White House said said in a statement. “For students across the country, playing sports and being part of a team is an important part of growing up, staying involved in school, and learning leadership and life skills. HR 734 would deny access to sports for many families by making an absolute ban transgender students — even those as young as elementary school students — playing on a team consistent with their gender identity.
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President Joe Biden departs after services at St. Edmond Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on April 15, 2023. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
“Schools, coaches and athletic associations across the country are already working with families to develop eligibility rules that are fair and that take into account certain sports, grade levels and levels of competition. If a national ban that fails to consider competitiveness or HR 734 targets people for who they are and is therefore discriminatory,” the report said.
The statement accused politicians of dictating a “one-size-fits-all requirement that forces coaches to remove children from their teams,” and argued that transgender youth across the country were already facing a mental health crisis.
It claimed such a law was “unnecessary” and that it “harms families and students”.
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Representative Greg Steube, a Republican from Florida, listens during a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Discrimination has no place in our country’s schools or on our playing fields. Instead of addressing the pressing issues facing families and students today – such as raising teachers’ salaries, banning guns from schools, addressing the mental health crisis our youth face, and helping students learn academically and recover from unprecedented disruptions — Republicans in Congress have chosen to prioritize policies that discriminate against children,” the White House said.
“If the president got HR 734, he would veto it,” it added.
Under Steube’s bill, educational institutions receiving Title IX funding from the federal government would “not be allowed to allow a person of male gender to participate in an athletic program or activity designed for women or girls.”
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Tree Crane, 17, poses for a photo after a rally where hundreds gathered in support of transgender youth at the Utah State Capitol on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 in Salt Lake City. (AP photo/Rick Bowmer)
The bill says an athlete’s sex would only be recognized by their “reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” The legislation would allow transgender female athletes to train or practice in an all-girls athletic program, but only if no biological female athlete is denied a place on the roster.
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Democrats have made it clear that most or all will oppose the bill on the floor. The House Education and Workforce Committee passed the legislation by a vote of 25 to 17 — every Republican voting in favor and only Democrats voting against.
Fox News’ Peter Kasperowicz contributed to this report.
Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @brandon_cg.
