[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H585]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PROTECTING WOMEN'S AND GIRLS' SPORTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Tenney) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, sports and athletic competitions provide 
essential opportunities for women to thrive at every stage of their 
life, as children in youth sports and as teens in high school and in 
college, in order to live a healthy and productive life.
  As a former competitive athlete, an equestrian, a basketball player, 
a golfer, and, yes, the teenage curling champion of 1975 in my 
hometown, I know the unparalleled opportunities that sports offer to 
women and girls.
  Competitive sports give women a chance to learn new skills, to 
develop lifelong friendships, and to challenge themselves to compete at 
the highest levels. Title IX and the banning of discrimination against 
women in sports made so much of this possible for me and countless 
other women.
  Today, these opportunities are under threat. Joe Biden's Department 
of Education and State agencies across the Nation are allowing, even 
encouraging, biological men to participate in women's sports. This is 
fundamentally unfair. It deprives women and girls of what so many of us 
fought for decades to achieve: equal opportunity to train, to compete, 
and to excel in athletics.

  We witnessed this past year, during the NCAA women's swimming 
championship, a phenomenal female athlete robbed of her title by a 
biological male. This is not an isolated incident. The tragedy is 
playing out in countless other sports and athletic leagues across our 
Nation.
  Today, we take a stand, with compassion for all, in defense of 
women's sports to stop this dangerous precedent.
  I am honored to be joined by an amazing group of outstanding women 
athletes who are in our Chamber today and are courageously standing up 
for women in all sports across our Nation and all women athletes.
  This is why I am so honored to cosponsor Representative Greg Steube's 
Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and to announce its 
introduction today in honor of National Women and Girls in Sports Day.
  Mr. Speaker, I have here the legislation. This bill will make it a 
violation of Title IX for biological men to compete in sports 
designated for women or girls. Further, it sensibly defines sex based 
on one's biological designation at birth.
  This bill isn't just anti-woke. It is actually pro-science. This bill 
will protect opportunities for women and girls to compete fairly on the 
athletic field and in life without interference from woke agencies or 
politicians who are making up definitions of sex and gender as they go, 
all to fit toxic political agendas and ideologies.
  Women have fought hard over the years for equality of opportunity, 
and it is essential that we protect these opportunities we cherish 
today for generations of women and girls to come.
  The Republican majority has pledged to protect women's sports, and 
today, we are delivering on that promise with Congressman Steube's 
bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I shall introduce Mr. Steube's bill today.

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