In a massive upset for LGBTQ+ rights organizations, The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday to ban transgender women and girls from competing on women’s sports teams in schools and institutions receiving federal funds.
Over 400 civil rights groups, including the ACLU, GLAAD, and the Human Rights Campaign, urged the House chamber to reject the bill, harmfully deemed “The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025.” In an open letter to the Republican-controlled House, the groups rejected the idea that this bill would address any real issues in women’s sports.
“Instead of providing for equal facilities, equipment, and travel, or any other strategy that women athletes have been pushing for for decades, the bill cynically veils an attack on transgender people as a question of athletics policy,” the letter reads.
Republicans listed the bill as a priority for early votes after the GOP campaign spent tens of millions of dollars on ads last year villainizing trans athletes and posing them as a threat. With the support of two Texas Democrats, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, the measure passed 218-206. Democrat Don Davis of North Carolina voted present, and no Republicans opposed the legislation.
Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., has been a vocal opponent of the legislation. Trahan, the only woman in Congress who has played Division I college sports, called out Republicans for “inject[ing] themselves into decisions they have no business making.”
“I have long placed my trust in the governing bodies of sports — the experts who have dedicated their lives to these games — to create fair and responsible rules for participation,” Trahan said in floor remarks according to NBC News.
The bill will now head to Senate. If passed, it will amend federal law to say, “Sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” Any school or institution that does not comply with the law could lose all federal funding.
This legislation passed through the House in April 2023 with no Democratic support but was halted in the then-Democratic-controlled Senate. This time, Republicans hold a majority in the Senate, and the bill has garnered heavy support.
