Blow for Trump as bill to ban trans athletes from women’s sports blocked in the US senate

A Republican-led bill to ban trans women and girls from female sports failed to advance in the US senate after Democrats voted unanimously to block it.

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act sought to change Title IX protections – the landmark federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination – so only student-athletes assigned female at birth can participate in female sports at school and in college.

It also defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth”. 

The bill fell short of the 60 backers needed to advance, on Monday (3 March), in a 51-45 vote across party lines. It easily cleared the House of Representatives in January.

The proposed legislation mirrored an executive order signed by president Donald Trump last month, which followed on his from his anti-trans campaign promises to “keep men out of women’s sports”.

The order claimed “many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports” and this is “demeaning, unfair and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports”.

Commenting on the outcome of the vote, Colorado Democrat John Hickenlooper accused Republican senator Tommy Tuberville, who introduced the bill, of “trying to churn the social wars about something that really doesn’t exist”.

Taking to X/Twitter, anti-trans pundit and former college-athlete Riley Gaines said: “The Democrats’ war on women continues.”

However, Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, responded by saying: “Every child should have the opportunity to experience the simple joys of being young and making memories with their friends. But bills like these send the message that transgender kids don’t deserve the same opportunities to thrive as their peers simply because of who they are.

“And they are impossible to enforce without putting all kids at risk of invasive questions or physical examinations just because someone doesn’t look or dress like everyone else.

“We should want all our kids to have the chance to be on a team, problem-solve with others, learn valuable skills and find places to belong. Thank you to the leaders who stood up today, pushed back against those playing politics with young people’s lives and declared that ours should be a nation where every child feels valued.”

Since re-entering the White House, Trump has signed executive orders saying the US only recognised the two sexes assigned at birth, male and female, banning transgender people from serving in the military and restricting gender-affirming healthcare for trans people under the age 19.

He has also looked to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programmes across the government and in the armed forces.

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