Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), sponsor of HR 734, and All-America swimmer Riley Gaines | House.gov / Independent Women's Forum
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), sponsor of HR 734, and All-America swimmer Riley Gaines | House.gov / Independent Women's Forum
Florida's representatives split along party lines for a U.S. House vote to pass a bill prohibiting school athletic programs from allowing boys to participate in girls’ sports.
"The Left’s fervent support of the radical trans agenda has come at the expense of women’s rights across the country. Parents do not want biological men in locker rooms with their daughters, nor do they believe its equitable that a male can compete with women in female athletics,” said Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), sponsor of H.R. 734, “The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act."
“That is the whole purpose behind the creation of Title IX. Yet the Left wants to destroy Title IX by allowing biological men to erase women's sports," said Steube.
Every one of Florida's Democrat representatives voted against H.R. 734, which passed the House on a vote of 219-203. The legislation now awaits a vote in the U.S. Senate, where U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) introduced a companion bill.
“This is a tremendous victory for biological reality in Washington,” said Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project of the legislation’s House passage. “Over the last decade, the woke left has been working overtime to impose their radical gender ideology on the rest of the country. Women and girls have been especially harmed as a result, losing the privacy and safety of female-only spaces as well as the athletic opportunities promised to them following the passage of Title IX. This is a travesty that must be rectified.”
The White House issued a statement saying President Joe Biden will veto the bill, if passed by the U.S. Senate.
Riley Gaines, a twelve-time All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky, said Biden is “catering to a radical minority at the expense of women.“
“Our President has declared that science, truth, and common sense no longer matter,” said Gaines in a statement. “In opposing this bill, President Biden is catering to a radical minority at the expense of women, who are the majority of the population. Equal opportunity, privacy, and safety for women in sports shouldn’t be controversial. The women who once advocated for Title IX should be outraged as this goes against everything they fought for. Female athletes of all ages, levels, and sports deserve better.”
In March 2022, University of Pennsylvania male swimmer Will "Lia" Thomas won the women's NCAA swimming championship in the 500 yard freestyle. Gaines, who tied with Thomas in the 200 freestyle event at those NCAA championships, called Thomas a “cheat.”
“Lia Thomas is not a brave, courageous woman who EARNED a national title,” tweeted Gaines. “He is an arrogant, cheat who STOLE a national title from a hardworking, deserving woman. The @ncaa is responsible.”
The Sunshine Sentinel reported earlier this month that Florida is one of twenty-one states that currently bans boys from participating in girls' school sports.
How did Florida's U.S. representatives vote on H.R. 734, “The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act”?
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