Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education based on sex, marked its 50th-anniversary last week, and to commemorate that, one of many major changes to Trump-era policies that President Joe Biden’s administration introduced was to include LGBTQ students under the law intended to protect women.
As NBC News reported, the administration’s support for that was a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that determined employees cannot be discriminated against in workplaces because they are gay or transgender.
U.S. Rep. Greg Steube has been among those on the right who see the slippery slope this invites, and who want to prevent the race to the bottom.
The Sarasota Republican believes that Biden’s rule will end women’s sports in colleges and high schools by forcing educational institutions to open women’s athletics to transgenders.
On Sunday, Steube announced that his bill to close that loophole – the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act – is moving closer to a vote.
Steube said he now has 187 signatures on a discharge petition, a legislative maneuver that allows bill sponsors to bypass the House committee system and force a vote on bills tabled by a committee. Getting to the vote requires a majority of lawmakers to sign the petition.
Steube said he needs 31 more. The congressman has added 80 names since The Free Press first reported on his petition in April.
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“The women and girls who give their all to their sport deserve to compete on an even playing field, but when they’re forced to compete against biological males, that opportunity is taken from them,” Steube said in an email to his constituents.
“It’s a sad day in America when we have to pass a bill to say that women’s sports will be women’s sports and men’s sports will be men’s sports,” he added. But, he continued, “Congress must pass my bill … to ensure no female athlete ever has to compete against a biological man again.”
All but one Florida Republican has signed the discharge petition, Rep. Maria Salazar of Miami, according to Congress.gov.
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