(Washington) The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill aimed at severely restricting the participation of transgender women in women’s college sports competitions.
This text, adopted by 218 votes in favor (including two elected Democrats) and 206 against, is now heading to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.
It prohibits educational and university institutions that receive federal funds “from allowing a male person to participate in an athletic activity or program intended for women or girls.”
Before specifying that sex is defined as that assigned at birth.
The Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, welcomed the vote, hailing it “a great day for women in America”.
“Today, the House voted to defend common sense,” he added during a press conference.
Donald Trump has made the issue of transgender rights a central aspect of his 2024 presidential campaign.
“With a simple stroke of a pen, from day one, we will put an end to the transgender madness,” assured the president-elect at the end of December.
He thus affirmed that he would sign “decrees to put an end to sexual mutilation of children, exclude transgender people from the army and exclude them from primary, middle and high schools”.
During his campaign, he declared that he wanted to “prevent men from participating in women’s sports”, arguing that the presence of transgender women in these competitions represented a danger for other participants.
The very presence of transgender people in the public sphere, their participation in sports competitions, and access to transition care before the age of majority provoke heated debates within American society.
