Congressional Equality Caucus, Democratic Women’s Caucus, and Leading Gender Justice Organization Condemn Proposed Federal Trans Sports Ban
WASHINGTON, DC–Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02), Democratic Women's Caucus Chair Representative Lois Frankel (FL-22), and National Women's Law Center President & CEO Fatima Goss Gravesresponded to the Committee on Education and the Workforce's announcement that the Committee will be marking up a federal trans sports ban (H.R. 734) this Wednesday.
"There are plenty of pressing issues facing both our education system and girls' and women's sports, such as teacher shortages and poor pay and a lack of resources and sexual harassment respectively. Rather than addressing any of these issues, anti-LGBTQI+ Republicans on this Committee will spend their first legislative markup voting to ban trans kids from participating in sports," Equality Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (WI-02) said. "This is not about girls' and women's sports; it's about attacking trans kids. This sports ban is just the opening salvo in their larger efforts to limit the rights of and demonize the LGBTQI+ community, and the Equality Caucus will do everything it can to defeat it."
"Every kid deserves the opportunity to participate in sports and learn hard work, discipline, and teamwork. But today, House Republicans have announced their intention to advance a bill depriving trans girls in every state of these opportunities," Democratic Women's Caucus Chair Lois Frankel said. "We will not let anti-LGBTQI+ Republicans—who have refused to work with us on addressing real gender equity issues—use "protecting women" as an excuse to attack trans youth. When my Republican colleagues want to join with us to address the actual pressing issues impacting girls' and women's sports, I stand ready to work with them."
"At the National Women's Law Center, we have been fighting for Title IX protections for over fifty years and are unequivocally clear that discriminating against transgender and intersex women and girls threatens opportunities for all of us," President & CEO of NWLC Fatima Goss Graves said. "Women and girls who play sports deserve equal treatment and resources, including facilities, scholarship opportunities, pay for coaches that are equal to those of their male counterparts, strong protections against sexual abuse and harassment, and more. Prohibiting trans women and girls from playing sports is not only discrimination, it steers us further from Title IX's promise."
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.
Leading gender justice and women's sports organizations, including the Women's Sports Foundation, and National Women's Law Center, support full and equal access to participation in athletics for transgender people. In addition, 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 students to 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.