In a contentious roll call vote late Monday evening, Senate Democrats blocked the GOP-backed “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which intends to bar trans athletes from female sports at federally funded schools. It was sponsored by Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). It failed to reach the 60-vote threshold necessary for passage, going down 51-45 along party lines. Democrats argued this measure to be a red herring, an exercise in political theater and derided it as a frivolous obsession with social issues.
The bill, which was passed in the House of Representatives earlier in January, was a replica of an executive order former President Donald Trump made. It is a sign of the continued Republican move to tout transgender rights as a top political issue, especially given the party’s 2024 campaign. Although there was a setback in the Senate, Republicans are set to keep pursuing the issue in future elections.
Providing the vote may be regarded as symbolic for it is adamantly unlikely to come up in the bill in days to come, it was already another rousing point among the senators. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) were the four senators who abstained from voting on the bill. Several Democrats, including John Hickenlooper, condemned the bill as a “cynically designed political move” pursued to escalate controversy over a relatively rare issue.
Hickenlooper is preparing for re-election in 2026. He expressed concern about the ongoing politicization of transgender rights, which he speculated would run its course because it is an issue with limited longevity. Though he believes in the philosophy of keeping transgender women from competing in women’s sports provided other female athletes protest, he asserted for political reasons the issue is exaggerated.
New York Times/Ipsos survey earlier this year finds that most people do not believe that transgender women should play in women’s sports. Seventy-nine percent of Americans feel they should not be allowed to. However, some Democrats, like Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), have most recently insisted that voters care more about economic or social matters than divisive issues, such as transgender rights.
The political landscape surrounding transgender rights in the upcoming elections is about to experience an upheaval, thanks to Monday’s vote, which is going to reshape conversations on the floor regarding transgender athletes.
