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LGBT Equality Caucus

MEDIA CENTER

Congressional Equality Caucus Condemns Education and Workforce Committee for Advancing Federal Trans and Intersex Sports Ban

March 9, 2023

WASHINGTON, DCToday, the Congressional Equality Caucus released the following statement condemning the House Committee on Education and the Workforce for passing H.R. 734, a federal trans and intersex sports ban. The ban advances to the House floor for a vote by the full U.S. House of Representatives.

"Despite all the challenges this country faces, the first bill Republicans on the Education and the Workforce Committee passed this year was a bill exclusively to attack trans and intersex kids. Their past comments made clear what we already know: their desire to move this bill had nothing to do with addressing gender equity in sports and everything to do with politics and undermining the rights of LGBTQI+, and especially trans, people," Equality Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (WI-02) said. "Trans kids deserve the right to be equal members of their school communities, learn sportsmanship, and challenge themselves outside of the classroom, including by participating in school sports. When the time comes, I urge my colleagues in the House to stand with kids and vote no on this discriminatory bill."

H.R. 734 amends existing law to make it a violation of Title IX for recipients of federal financial assistance to allow transgender girls or women to participate in girls' and women's athletic programs. This bill would effectively ban all trans girls and trans women from participating on school sports teams, depriving them of an important opportunity to be part of their school community, learn sportsmanship, and challenge themselves. It would also limit the ability of non-binary and intersex students to participate in these programs as well.

Leading women's sports and gender justice organizations, including the Women's Sports Foundation and National Women's Law Center, support full inclusion of all students—including transgender, intersex, and nonbinary students—in school sports, and they oppose this bill.

Leading athletes and player associations also support full inclusion in sports. For example, when an anti-transgender legal organization challenged Connecticut's inclusive athletics policy, athletic stars like Jasmine Thomas, Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe, and Layshia Clarendon, the Women's National Basketball Players Association, and others filed an amicus brief defending the right of transgender studentsto play.

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Founded in 2008, the mission of the Congressional Equality Caucus is to promote equality for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics, including intersex traits. The Caucus is strongly committed to achieving the full enjoyment of human rights for LGBTQI+ people in the U.S. and around the world.