[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.

                          ____________________