[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 66 (Thursday, April 20, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1890-H1893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SPORTS ACT OF 2023
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 298 and rule
XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House
on the state of the Union for the further consideration of the bill,
H.R. 734.
Will the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Flood) kindly take the chair.
{time} 0912
In the Committee of the Whole
Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union for the further consideration of
the bill (H.R. 734) to amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to
provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of
such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a
person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth, with Mr. Flood
(Acting Chair) in the chair.
[[Page H1891]]
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The Acting CHAIR. When the Committee of the Whole rose on Wednesday,
April 19, 2023, all time for general debate pursuant to House
Resolution 298 had expired.
Pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment
under the 5-minute rule.
In lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by
the Committee on Education and the Workforce, printed in the bill, it
shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of
amendment under the 5-minute rule an amendment in the nature of a
substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 118-3. That
amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read.
The text of the amendment in the nature of a substitute is as
follows:
H.R. 734
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protection of Women and
Girls in Sports Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT.
Section 901 of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C.
1681) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(d)(1) It shall be a violation of subsection (a) for a
recipient of Federal financial assistance who operates,
sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to
permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an
athletic program or activity that is designated for women or
girls.
``(2) For the purposes of this subsection, sex shall be
recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology
and genetics at birth.
``(3) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
prohibit a recipient from permitting males to train or
practice with an athletic program or activity that is
designated for women or girls so long as no female is
deprived of a roster spot on a team or sport, opportunity to
participate in a practice or competition, scholarship,
admission to an educational institution, or any other benefit
that accompanies participating in the athletic program or
activity.''.
The Acting CHAIR. No amendment to that amendment in the nature of a
substitute shall be in order, except those printed in House Report 118-
37. Each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the
report, by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered read,
shall be debatable for the time specified in the report, equally
divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be
subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division
of the question.
Amendment No. 1 Offered by Ms. Mace
The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 1
printed in House Report 118-37.
Ms. MACE. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Page 2, line 7, strike the close quotation marks.
Page 2, after line 7, insert the following:
``(e) The Comptroller General shall carry out a study to
determine the meaning of the phrase `any other benefit' as
used in subsection (d)(3) by looking at benefits to women or
girls of participating in single sex sports that would be
lost by allowing males to participate. The study shall
document the adverse psychological, developmental,
participatory, and sociological results to girls of allowing
males to compete, be members of a sports team, or
participants in athletic programs, that are designed for
girls, including displacement or discouragement from sports
participation, deprivation of a roster spot on a team or
sport, loss of the opportunity to participate in a practice
or competition, loss of a scholarship or scholarship
opportunities, loss or displacement of admission to an
educational institution, deprivation of the benefit of an
environment free of hostility based on sexual assault or
harassment, or any other benefit that accompanies
participating in the athletics program or activity. Further,
the Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee on
Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives
and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
of the Senate a report that contains the results of such
study.''.
The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 298, the gentlewoman
from South Carolina (Ms. Mace) and a Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from South Carolina.
{time} 0915
Ms. MACE. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would mandate the Comptroller
General carry out a study to determine the adverse effects of allowing
biological men to compete in women's sports. It looks at the adverse
psychological, developmental participatory, and sociological results to
girls of allowing males to compete, be members of a sports team, or
participants in athletic programs that are designed specifically for
girls, including hostile environment creation, sexual assault, and
sexual harassment.
We are going to call this today the Riley Gaines report. Riley Gaines
lifetime of hard work was undermined by a biological male who was
wrongly allowed to compete against women in NCAA-sanctioned
competition.
Furthermore, she had to deal with the psychological trauma of being
forced to share a locker room and change in front of a biological man.
Subjecting more women to this is cruel.
All of the glass ceilings that have been shattered by women in sports
have been for naught if we allow this to continue, so I am going to
stand with women and fight for their fair right to competition.
Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I claim time to speak in opposition to the
amendment.
The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from California is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, this amendment perpetuates false arguments
that allowing transgender girls to participate on school sports teams
will undermine the well-being of cisgender girls.
Again, my friends across the aisle are conflating and confusing the
issue here. They want to talk about the struggles and the challenges we
have with determining fair competition in elite sports, but what we are
talking about here is a bill, the underlying bill, which would
completely ban participation of all transgender kids across our
country.
As I said, the example in Utah, 75,000 high school students competing
in high school sports, four transgender kids, one competing as a
female. This seems wholly, wholly, disproportionate to the so-called
problem. What is disproportionate is this proposal to completely ban
transgender students from sports.
Now, I want to say something here. The other side does not even want
to acknowledge that transgender kids exist; that transgender people
exist.
Nevertheless, the legislation and this amendment target transgender
kids, and they do it in a very, very insidious way. They will say, oh,
transgender doesn't appear in this bill. But let's not kid ourselves
that the very intent is to harm and stigmatize, isolate, make them
pariahs, and this is simply wrong.
Look, I am not a scientist. I was an English teacher most of my time
before I got into Congress. I do know the harm that comes with this
insidious use of language, by not even granting the dignity of
existing, not even granting the dignity of the existence of trans kids
and trans people. That is what the other side is doing.
It is going to be harmful. How is it harmful? This mere debate has
traumatized trans kids and their families across the country. Eighty-
five percent of transgender and nonbinary youth say that the debates
around anti-trans bills have negatively impacted their mental health.
According to a 2022 survey, nearly one in five transgender and
nonbinary youth attempted suicide in the past year, and 45 percent of
LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.
These statistics are real. They represent real vulnerable kids. I urge
my colleagues to oppose this amendment and to oppose the underlying
bill.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. MACE. Mr. Chairman, for years, the left has said to follow the
science. Well, today, Republicans are following the science. We are not
confused about the differences between biological men and biological
women.
As a woman who is pro-LGBTQ, I don't care how you dress. I don't care
what pronoun you take. I don't care if you change your gender. But we
ought to protect biological women and girls in their athletics and
their achievements.
As someone who has broken glass ceilings, I am the first woman to
graduate from The Citadel, the Military
[[Page H1892]]
College of South Carolina. We don't want biological men taking away the
achievements of women who fought so hard for where they are today.
It was 100 years after women's suffrage that South Carolina elected
the first ever Republican woman to Congress. That is what I did in
2020.
We don't want to take these achievements away from women at all. We
are not confused. Having biological men in locker rooms, as a mom of a
girl, and hearing Riley Gaines' story, and as someone who was molested
at 14, raped at 16, the risks to our girls and to women by biological
men in some of these cases and the stories that we have heard, we ought
to do our damnedest to protect women and girls in sports.
This is not insidious. What is insidious is allowing men in girls'
locker rooms as they are changing, as they are showering. That is
perverted; it is insidious; it is disgusting.
We want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to protect
women and girls. This report will study that and bring the results to
Congress.
I thank Riley Gaines for sharing her story, putting it out there, and
talking about the realities of what is going on in this country.
I can tell you the other side is very much confused. They are so
confused now that Republicans have become the feminists of today.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentlewoman from South
Carolina for a colloquy to answer some questions.
I know the gentlewoman to be open-minded about LGB people, but I
wonder if she has ever sat down and met with any of her transgender
constituents.
Ms. MACE. I have. I actually know transgender constituents. I know
transgender children. I have friends in my district that have
transgender kids. I am very well aware.
Mr. TAKANO. Reclaiming my time. So the gentlewoman does recognize
that transgender kids and transgender people exist.
Ms. MACE. Yes, 100 percent.
Mr. TAKANO. Reclaiming my time. So it is curious to me that the
gentlewoman has not included even the word ``transgender.'' She uses
the word ``biological male,'' and the study that she has put forward
studies the harm done to cisgender girls by having them compete with
biological males. It does not even provide the guidance to the studiers
to study what may happen with cisgender girls and the competition with
transgender girls. So the results of this study are not going to even
determine what the challenges may be.
Look, the mere fact that the author of this amendment is asking to
study this shows that there is no evidence that there is any harm here.
The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Ms. MACE. Mr. Chair, may I inquire how much time is remaining.
The Acting CHAIR. The gentlewoman has 2 minutes remaining.
Ms. MACE. Mr. Chairman, when we use the term ``biological men,'' we
are actually following the science because for years the left has said
follow the science. When you are born a biological male, you are born
with physical advantages over women.
We do want to study the psychological effect on women in sports, in
their locker rooms. We want to study what is going on and how it
negatively impacts women.
Women should not be ignored in this situation, whether they are in
the classroom, or on a sports team, or in the private sector.
As I mentioned before, I know and have met with plenty of transgender
individuals. This is not against the LGBTQ community. We are pro-women
today, and that is what this amendment is about, protecting women and
girls against biological men who want to compete against them.
I don't think any of us have any discontent if transgender girls
wanted to have their own sports teams and compete at that level because
the physical differences between biological men and biological women
are very different. We want to make sure that we are going to protect
them, and that we don't have any other women going through what Riley
Gaines went through. It was wrong then; it is wrong now.
I am proud of this amendment and the work that we are doing to
protect women and girls. As I said before, I have broken many glass
ceilings, and I don't want to see those achievements taken away from
biological women who have worked so hard to get to where they are
today.
We want to set a good example that they can achieve anything they
want in America, anything they want in the United States of America. If
they have goals, they work hard to achieve them. They can do anything
they want, and no man will get in their way.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentlewoman from South Carolina (Ms. Mace).
The question was taken; and the Acting Chair announced that the ayes
appeared to have it.
Ms. MACE. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further
proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from South
Carolina will be postponed.
Amendment No. 2 Offered by Mr. Ogles
The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 2
printed in House Report 118-37.
Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Page 1, line 17, strike ``(3)'' and insert ``(4)''.
Page 1 after line 16, insert the following:
``(3) For the purposes of this subsection, the term
`athletic programs and activities' includes, but is not
limited to, all programs or activities that are provided
conditional upon participation with any athletic team.''.
The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 298, the gentleman
from Tennessee (Mr. Ogles) and a Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.
Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I am grateful that the House of Representatives is taking a stand to
protect women and girls in this country and to ensure that they
continue to have access to athletic opportunities at school. I strongly
support the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act.
My amendment strengthens the underlying bill by protecting schools
from a weaponized bureaucracy and frivolous lawsuits as they work to
comply with the intentions of the bill.
Many schools provide a wide range of programs and activities to
support their student athletes. This amendment ensures that schools can
continue to provide a range of resources exclusively or preferentially
to members of an athletic team without worrying about activist
bureaucrats or opportunistic trial lawyers targeting them with
disingenuous arguments about what constitutes an athletic program or
activity.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the
amendment.
The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from California is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, again, the assertion that the underlying
bill is about protecting women and girls couldn't be farther from the
truth. We know that in States that have inclusive policies toward trans
girls and women in sports, that the overall participation of girls and
women is greater.
Those States that have enacted bans on transgender participation have
seen a decrease in overall participation. Why might that be?
Well, we know that in Utah, that some parents of cisgender girls who
have seen their girls lose in competition have questioned whether or
not the winner is actually a girl because of nonconformance to
perceived notions of femininity. Authorities in that State have
actually subjected the winner, the girl who was a winner, to an
examination of documents dating back to her kindergarten days in order
for her to prove that she was indeed a female.
Think about the chilling effect that this has had on other women and
girls
[[Page H1893]]
from participating in sports. The teenage years are a difficult time
enough but think about what this ban has imposed.
Let me tell you, Republicans are not satisfied with just banning
transgender girls from competition in athletics. What this amendment
will do is to accomplish full exclusion of transgender people, not only
from athletic programs, but from any other auxiliary programming that a
student would want to participate with their teams.
Not only are they interested in assuring that transgender girls and
women can't enjoy the benefits of the athletic aspects of team sports,
but they also want to make sure that trans students who, statistically
speaking, already face intense marginalization in school environments
are deprived of the opportunity to make friends, to be included, and
just have fun.
{time} 0930
No wonder more than half of transgender kids have thought about
suicide or have attempted it.
This amendment is the example that represents the whole. The nature
of this amendment is what is at the heart of this bill. It is not about
competition. It is about participation.
I wish that they would stop using examples of difficulties in elite
competitions as a justification to harm transgender kids all across
this Nation and exclude them not only from sports but also exclude them
from sports banquets or special study halls that may be associated with
athletes.
This is an insidious amendment. It is an insidious bill. It is
contrary to our values as Americans.
Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chair, no woman or girl in our country should be
forced to lose competitions to biological men. No school in our country
should be punished for fighting to preserve the integrity of women's
sports.
We cannot pass up an opportunity to protect schools from adverse
actions accusing them of discrimination when they provide a tutor to a
team or they let athletes move into a dorm early or accommodate a
practice schedule.
We know Democrats will work to pursue every loophole imaginable to
undermine this bill, and we should take this opportunity to stop them
before they can start.
Mr. Chair, I urge adoption of my amendment, and I reserve the balance
of my time.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chair, I would just say let's allow, at the very
elite level, organizations like the International Olympic Committee and
the NCAA to make determinations of what constitutes fairness, not
impose the Federal Government where it is not necessary. Transgender
athletes have been welcomed into participation for 20 years now and
only recently has it become a major issue in our country.
Mr. Chair, where have the Republicans' concerns about government
overreach gone? Where have the concerns about allowing States and
voluntary associations to solve problems before the Federal Government
is brought to bear gone?
Certainly, we should not be using one or two examples at the elite
sports level to affect the participation of transgender girls and women
all across our country in high schools and colleges.
Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chair, I reiterate that no woman or girl should be
forced to lose competitions to biological men. I say that as a father
of a daughter who is an athlete. I say that as a father to two sons who
are athletes. Girls should play girls' sports, and boys should play
boys' sports.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chair, I would say that organizations like the NCAA
and the International Olympic Committee can resolve these issues about
fairness in competition, but we should not neglect the greater value of
participation, connecting to others in society and welcoming everybody
into the community. This bill and this amendment do not do that, and
they put our transgender kids in harm's way.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ogles).
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.
The motion was agreed to.
Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr.
Edwards) having assumed the chair, Mr. Flood, Acting Chair of the
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that
that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 734) to
amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of
determining compliance with title IX of such Act in athletics, sex
shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and
genetics at birth, had come to no resolution thereon.
____________________