Shut Up and Dribble: New US Congress prioritizes transphobic bill

Trans athletes will face limited athletic opportunities with legislation vowing to “save” women’s sports

SportsAnthony Maruca — Published January 14, 2025 3 minutes

In recent years, United States lawmakers have pushed legislation to shut trans people out of organized sports based on their gender identity. Given President Donald Trump’s recent election, the new Republican-led Congress now has more opportunity to legislate against trans athletes. 

Republican Congressman Greg Steube vowed to “save” women as he reintroduced the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. This anti-trans athlete bill would ban transgender athletes from competing in cisgender men’s and women’s sports.

Steube’s bill proposal was included in the House of Representatives’ new rules package as a priority to be voted on in Trump’s first 100 days of office. The rules package passed the House on Jan. 3. It had passed by the House in 2023 but was never brought to a vote in a majoritarian Democratic Senate. 

The bill states that “sex shall be recognized solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” It also aims to ban any athletic organization that receives public funding that does not operate within the bill’s parameters. The legislation will be “fast-tracked,” meaning no amendments could slow down the voting process and it will be voted on “as read.”  

Implementing this bill so quickly into Trump’s second term as president sends a clear message of the priorities of the new Republican-led Congress. The country already faces soaring inflation and economically inaccessible health care among others. Fast-tracking this bill gives the impression of a transphobic and anti-feminist agenda pushed by Republican politicians disguised as legislation made to “save” women’s sports. 

The transphobic motivations of the bill are pretty clear, as Steube consistently misgendered trans athletes in a statement released the same day the House passed the bill.

“[Americans] do not want men stealing sports records from women, entering their daughters’ locker rooms, replacing female athletes on teams, and taking their daughters’ scholarship opportunities [...] men have no place in women’s sports,” Steube said. 

The notion that “men” are attempting to ruin women’s sports is wrong in two ways. Firstly, it misgenders any trans athletes who don’t identify as male who wish to participate in women’s sports. Secondly, the notion that trans athletes would ruin women’s sports is simply untrue. In “Transgender Women Athletes and Elite Sport: A Scientific Review”, the authors found that there isn’t any conclusive evidence of trans women having an advantage over cis women in sports.

Additionally, and as history has proven, banning trans athletes from sports invites unfair gender policing based on whether an athlete is “too masculine” to be a “real” woman. 

The bill and Steube’s statement reinforce anti-feminist stereotypes that women are weak and in need of protection. Female athletes are more than capable of competing at high levels athletically, even among other trans athletes. According to Dr. Joshua D. Safer of Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, an individual’s internal and external reproductive anatomy is not a useful indicator of athletic performance. 

Safer also states that the only testosterone level established athletic advantage males have over females is tested to reduce testosterone, which is common in transitioning individuals and may be sufficient to eliminate this biological advantage. 

For several years now, the National Collegiate Athletics Association has allowed trans athletes to compete in high-level athletic events, and no disruption to women’s sports can be perceived. In fact, according to a CNN article published in mid-2024, an estimated fewer than 40 athletes were known to identify as transgender, which would come out to less than 0.01 per cent of a total estimated 500,000 athletes.  

The segregation of trans athletes promotes discrimination and a lack of inclusion among their peers. Sports are a beautiful thing, and part of that beauty is how they bring people together. To exclude anybody from that community due to their gender identity would be shameful and unfortunate.

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 7, published January 14, 2025.