Speaker Mike Johnson points to Genesis in defense of House passing bill to protect women’s sports
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended the lower chamber's passage of a bill protecting women's sports by noting that sex goes back to the time of Genesis when God created Adam and Eve.
Johnson addressed reporters at a press conference Tuesday after the Republican-controlled House passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in a 218-206 vote to keep trans-identified men from competing in women's athletic competitions.
At the beginning of his remarks, Johnson asserted “We know from Scripture and from nature that men are men and women are women and men cannot become women.”
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When a reporter asked the speaker to clarify why he thinks “Christian Scripture teaches that,” Johnson responded by noting, “It goes back to the first book, Genesis.” He highlighted the relevant portion of the Bible as stating “Male and female He made them.”
The measure, which received all but two of its votes from Republicans, makes it a violation of federal law for any recipient of federal education funding “who operates, sponsors, or facilitates an athletic program or activity to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.” The Republican-controlled House passed the bill in the previous Congress, but the Democrat-controlled Senate did not bring it up for a vote.
Unlike when the House voted on the legislation in the 118th Congress, Tuesday’s vote saw two House Democrats break with their party to support the bill. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, both of Texas, supported the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Cuellar voted against the measure two years ago, while Gonzalez was one of 13 members who did not vote on it.
The House’s passage of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act comes after President-elect Donald Trump promised to ask Congress to pass a bill declaring that federal civil rights law prohibits trans-identified males from competing in women’s sports if he won the 2024 presidential election. Now that Trump has won the election and Republicans have control of the House and the Senate, leadership of both the executive and legislative branches supports the legislation.
However, the bill faces higher hurdles for passage in the Republican-controlled Senate. Republicans only have 53 seats in the upper chamber and most legislation requires 60 votes to pass, meaning that at least seven Democrats would have to support the measure in order for it to become law. Based on the near-unanimous opposition from House Democrats to the bill, the possibility remains that it will fall short of securing the votes necessary for passage.
The push to pass the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act comes amid outrage over trans-identified male athletes dominating women’s sports. The most prominent example of this involves Lia (Will) Thomas, a trans-identified man and former collegiate swimmer who broke records on the University of Pennsylvania women’s swimming team after competing on the men’s swimming team for three years.
In addition to the real-world examples of men who identify as female shattering women’s sports records, concerns about the biological differences between men and women also propelled efforts to pass such legislation.
USA Powerlifting, which adopted a policy requiring athletes to compete on teams designated for their sex instead of their self-declared gender identity, lists “increased body and muscle mass, bone density, bone structure, and connective tissue” as factors that give males an advantage over females in sports.
Kristen Waggoner of the religious freedom legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents several female athletes who have had to compete against trans-identified males, praised the House’s passage of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in a statement published Tuesday.
“Girls shouldn’t be spectators in their own sports,” she said. “Allowing males who identify as female to compete in girls’ sports ignores the biological differences between the sexes — destroying fair competition and erasing women’s athletic prospects.”
“As we continue to witness increasing incidents nationwide of males dominating girls’ athletic competitions, it is imperative to affirm that biology, not identity, is what matters in athletics,” Waggoner added. “We thank Speaker Mike Johnson and the U.S. House of Representatives for making its passage a top priority in the new year. It is encouraging to see Congress take an early, strong stand for women and girls. The Senate should now promptly consider and pass this critically important legislation.”
In the absence of federal protections for female athletes, 27 states have implemented laws or regulations that prohibit trans-identified males from competing on women’s sports teams: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
