(CNSNews.com) - Republican lawmakers, all of them women, gathered at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to stand up for female athletes.
The Republican bill, The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, "is about protecting women's sports, now and into the future, and we anticipate this will be passed today," said Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.).
Indeed, a short time later, the bill passed on a 219-203 party-line vote, with not a single Democrat voting for it.
At a pre-vote rally, Republican women took turns at the microphone to explain what's at stake. Here's a sample of their remarks:
Rep. Beth Van Dyne (Texas):
"And this is exactly what we want to protect -- biological girls, being able to fairly compete against other biological girls in the sports they love. That we must be even talking about passing The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act shows how stark-raving mad leftists have perverted what should be a very simple subject. Biological women and girls should only be competing against other biological women and girls. And I don't care how many surgeries you have. I don't care how many chemicals you put into your body. You are not going to be a biological woman. Anyone who claims to be a feminist or believes in what feminism was founded upon should proudly stand with us and vote for this bill to protect and preserve women's sports for real biological women and girls."
Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.):
"Today's passage of H.R.734, The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, will be a monumental win for women and girls across our country. The perverse biological fantasies of the left are both dangerous and a direct threat to women's sports and all female athletes across our country. And the Biden administration is doubling down on this insanity by pushing regulations that will upend the laws 20 states have on the books, protecting women's sports. Harm is being done to women athletes, and the American people know this is wrong. So House Republicans took action to support and protect the women and girls who have come so far to get much-deserved recognition for their athletic achievements. This legislation is the first step towards restoring integrity and fairness in women's sports."
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (Tenn.):
"No woman should ever be denied an opportunity, a scholarship or a place on the podium because a biological male is competing against them. Under this legislation, it will ensure that Title IV will protect women as it was intended. Federally funded schools that allow men, men who are pretending to be women...to participate in all female sports will be faced with a Title IX violation. This bill is a win for women, our family values, and it will save women's sports. You know, this Biden administration is waging war on women. Make no...doubt about it. The very class of biological females that they want to uphold with abortion rulings and things like that. They are coming after you, girls, they're coming after all our children. And we have to protect our young girls from gender extremists who seek to destroy all the progress we have made. And as a health care provider, I can tell you this, they cannot change a person's DNA."
Rep. Debbie Lesco (Ariz.):
"You know, for decades, women have fought for women and girl rights. Ok. We fought for the right to vote. We fought for the right for Title IX so that women and girls could have some equalness in competing in sports. And who would have thought that all these years later that we would have our Democratic women colleagues join with a male president, who is fighting against women's rights. This is outrageous. This is crazy. This is dangerous. This needs to stop. So it's we, the Republican women and men in Congress, who are putting forth this legislation to make this insanity stop. Republicans care about women. Republicans care about girls. It is Republicans today who are protecting women and girls’ sports. It's time to stop men from participating in women and girls’ sports."
Rep. Lisa McLain (Mich.):
"I want to start off by saying that as a female member of Congress, I am appalled that we are having to defend women in women's sports. That's crazy. Listen, I’m a live-and-let-live -- you can be whoever you want to be. If you want to be a transgender, that that's your right. But what about my rights? What about the rights of my daughters? That is where we've lost our minds, right? Title IX was supposed to be the saving grace. But the radical left has thrown that to the wayside by allowing biological men to play alongside women. Women. We have erased the meaning of equity and fairness, right? How many times do we hear equity and fairness, equity and fairness? But we only talk about that equity and fairness when it fits their narrative. Not to mention what it means to be a woman, which is interesting to me, since my friends on the other side of the aisle, like to talk about a level playing field and the need for women's rights. I guess that doesn't matter anymore when partisan politics are at play..."
The bill says that for purposes of Title IX, "sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth." It is expected to die in the Democrat-led Senate.
https://www.cnsnews.com/article/washington/susan-jones/republican-women-need-protect-female-athletics-shows-how-stark
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