Republican Senators are pushing a bill to rewrite federal civil rights legislation with the goal of pushing trans girls out of school sports.
On Tuesday, Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler introduced the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2020,” which would amend the definition of sex in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to exclude gender identity. Her amendment would redefine the word sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” rather than their lived experience of gender.
The legislation is aimed squarely at school districts which allow female transgender students to compete in accordance with their gender identity. The proposal states that any school which “operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities” found in violation of its redefined Title IX will be stripped of federal funding.
“It shall be a violation… for a recipient of federal funds… to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls,” the bill states.
In a statement released in conjunction with the bill’s introduction, Loeffler claimed it is intended to “defend women and girls in sports.”
“Title IX established a fair and equal chance for women and girls to compete, and sports should be no exception,” said the first-term lawmaker. “As someone who learned invaluable life lessons and built confidence playing sports throughout my life, I’m proud to lead this legislation to ensure girls of all ages can enjoy those same opportunities.
Loeffer added that the legislation is simply “common sense” and will assist in “safeguarding fairness and leveling the athletic field that Title IX guarantees.”
The legislation was cosponsored by fellow Senate conservatives like Utah’s Mike Lee, Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn, and Arkansas’ Tom Cotton, all of whom have a markedly anti-LGBTQ+ record as legislators. Lee, for instance, is the prime sponsor of a sweeping bill that would allow businesses and private individuals to refuse service to LGBTQ+ people in accordance with their religious beliefs. Cotton was a co-sponsor of that legislation, while Blackburn supported it.
Lee justified his support for Loeffler’s bill in a statement saying that “men and women are biologically different.”
“That’s just a scientific fact,” he claimed. “For the safety of female athletes and for the integrity of women’s sports, we must honor those differences on a fair field of competition.”
While the research on trans inclusion in sports is still somewhat inconclusive, what’s ironic about Lee’s statement is that the science community has come out against proposals discriminating against trans people. In 2018, over 1,600 scientists signed onto a letter opposing a planned move by the Trump administration to define gender as “biological and established at birth,” according to the BBC.
“The relationship between sex chromosomes, genitalia, and gender identity is complex, and not fully understood,” claimed the signatories, which included nine Nobel laureates. They added that the proposal was “fundamentally inconsistent not only with science, but also with ethical practices, human rights, and basic dignity.”
The move to redefine a 48-year-old civil rights bill is likely less about science than it is political calculus: Loeffler is currently embroiled in a tough special election race following an insider trading scandal that severely damaged her candidacy. The top two finishers in a six-person open primary will go head-to-head in a runoff scheduled for January, and according to RealClearPolitics, Loeffler is statistically tied with Republican Doug Collins.
To drum up support for her reelection, Loeffler appears to be taking a page out of the American Principles Project playbook. The conservative lobbyist group recently ran a series of pro-Donald Trump ads in the swing state of Michigan warning that Democrats want to “destroy girls’ sports” by allowing trans students to compete, which later elicited a fact-check warning on Facebook.
Right-wing activists believe conservatives can win in 2020 by using trans students as a wedge issue and have urged the president to embrace this strategy, as them. previously reported. But it doesn’t seem to be working: Trump trails Democrat Joe Biden by seven points nationally in the final weeks of the presidential race.
And in addition to being poor electoral strategy, Loeffler’s bill is almost certain to die in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
The legislation, which notably does not mention trans male students, coincides with a similar push from the Department of Education to refuse federal funding earmarked for desegregation efforts to three school districts in Connecticut. The state’s governor, Democrat Ned Lamont, announced on Monday he would fight to ensure trans inclusion in student athletics.
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