House GOP, Biden Both Under Fire for Trans Sports Proposals

Both the Biden administration and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are facing criticism this week for proposals related to restricting transgender athletes from participating in sports teams and events that align with their gender identity.

While the House GOP's bill is explicitly designed to exclude trans women and girls, the Biden administration's pending rule aims to "provide needed clarity, in response to questions from stakeholders, on how recipients can ensure that students have equal opportunity to participate on male and female athletic teams as required by Title IX."

Title IX is a 1972 federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding.

As a U.S. Department of Education fact sheet on the administration's proposal details:

Under the proposed regulation, schools would not be permitted to adopt or apply a one-size-fits-all policy that categorically bans transgender students from participating on teams consistent with their gender identity.

Instead, the department's approach would allow schools flexibility to develop team eligibility criteria that serve important educational objectives, such as ensuring fairness in competition or preventing sports-related injury. These criteria would have to account for the sport, level of competition, and grade or education level to which they apply. These criteria could not be premised on disapproval of transgender students or a desire to harm a particular student. The criteria also would have to minimize harms to students whose opportunity to participate on a male or female team consistent with their gender identity would be limited or denied.

"What I would say is think about intent versus impact," Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D-100) toldVICE. "I think there is intent from the Biden administration to protect trans athletes but you can't reconcile that intent with the fact that this policy opens the potential pathway for discrimination."

Zephyr is among 14 transgender and nonbinary state legislators who on Monday sent a letter to President Joe Biden highlighting legislative attacks on trans athletes—20 states have passed sports bans and over 450 anti-trans bills have been put forth this year—and detailing their concerns with his administration's proposed changes to Title IX.

"While we understand the administration may have been attempting to provide legal protections and clarity, in actuality these proposed rule changes will simply provide those who seek to deny us our rights a roadmap for how to do so," the lawmakers wrote. "To put it plainly, there is not such thing as an acceptable 'compromise' that limits transgender Americans access to equal rights."

"Trans athletes belong in sports," they argued. "When discussing questions around fairness in sports, rather than granting credence to false narratives around the supposed advantages of trans athletes, we should instead be asking why trans people are so deeply underrepresented—in their participation, in their successes, and in athletic scholarships."

The lawmakers called on the administration to work with transgender legislators, lawyers, and activists "to revise this proposed policy in a way that allows trans people to fully participate in the sports of their choosing, and does not perpetuate unfounded and harmful claims about trans athletes."

As state legislators from Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Vermont wrote to Biden, professional, Olympic, and Paralympic athletes on the same day took aim at the House GOP bill.

The so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act (H.R. 734) was reintroduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) in February and received a hearing by the GOP-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce last month.

The new letter from critics of the bill was organized by Athlete Ally, which works to end homophobia and transphobia in sports.

"As professional, Olympic, and Paralympic athletes, we have dedicated our lives to sports," the letter states. "Sports have given us our greatest friends, taught us incredible life lessons, and given us the confidence and drive to succeed in the world. Those of us who love sport know that its value goes far beyond the playing field, to developing a sense of self and identity, and reflecting what we value as a community. Sport is a tremendous outlet for physical and mental health, teaches valuable lessons on teamwork and discipline, and has brought us lifelong community. Every single child should have access to the lifesaving power of sports."

If H.R. 734 passes, "transgender and intersex girls and women throughout the country will be forced to sit on the sidelines, away from their peers and their communities," the athletes warned. "Furthermore, the policing of who can and cannot play school sports will very likely lead to the policing of the bodies of all girls, including cisgender girls. This will deter girls from participating in sports and create additional barriers. Denying children access to a place where they can gain significant mental and physical health benefits, and learn lifelong lessons that come from being part of a team and working hard towards your goals does not protect women in sports."

"We believe that gender equity in sport is critical, which is why we urge policymakers to turn their attention and effort to the causes women athletes have been fighting for decades, including equal pay, an end to abuse and mistreatment, uneven implementation of Title IX, and a lack of access and equity for girls of color and girls with disabilities, to name only a few," the letter concludes. "Our deepest hope is that transgender and intersex kids will never have to feel the isolation, exclusion, and othering that H.R. 734 is seeking to enshrine into law."

Signatories include Abby Dunkin, a Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball; Olympic and professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe; Olympic and professional basketball player Sue Bird; trans powerlifter JayCee Cooper; Patricio Manuel, the first trans boxer to compete professionally; and CeCe Telfer, who as a track and field athlete at Franklin Pierce University was the first trans person to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association title.

"I'm proud to have signed onto this open letter in support of trans and intersex youth and against H.R. 734," Telfer tweeted. "Every child deserves the right to play the sport they love."