House Republicans voted today to pass a bill that would ban transgender students from playing sports at any federally funded schools and education programs. LGBTQ+ advocates condemned the vote. It’s unclear when its companion bill in the Republican-controlled Senate will receive a vote and doubtful that the bill will receive enough Democrat support to pass the upper chamber’s 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster.

The bill, entitled the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, passed largely along party lines in a 218-206 vote, with two Democrats supporting the transphobic bill along with all Republicans — the Democrats were Texas Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar. Three Republicans and six Democrats didn’t vote, while one Democrat voted “present,” The Hill noted.

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Two House Democrats say they oppose trans athletes competing against girls & women
They made their statements after Republicans rad anti-trans political ads against several Democratic candidates.

Politico noted that Gonzalez aired an election season ad stating that he opposes trans women playing women’s sports, and that the issue was a “notable” one for Latino voters, the majority of which supported President-elect Donald Trump in the last election.

In a November interview with Politico, Cuellar said that Democrats have underestimated how strongly voters feel about the issue, especially in rural America and his district in South Texas.

The bill would amend Title IX — the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in government-funded schools and education programs — to prohibit schools from allowing trans female athletes to participate in athletic programs or activities “designated for women or girls.” 

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While the bill defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” the Congressional Equality Caucus, noted that the bill “could force any student to answer invasive personal questions about their bodies & face humiliating physical inspections to ‘prove’ that they’re a girl.” The caucus referred to the bill as the “Child Predator Empowerment Act.”