September 23, 2020
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) introduced a bill that would ban transgender girls from competing in school sports with their gender, threatening federal funding to schools that support transgender students.
Loeffler introduced the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in the Senate and said that it "protects [cisgender] women and girls," presumably from transgender women and girls.
The bill would explicitly state that allowing transgender girls and women to compete with their gender in school sports violates Title IX's ban on discrimination on the basis of sex in schools, which is
the legal theory the Trump administration is already using to threaten funding for school districts.
Loeffler's bill, which says nothing about transgender boys competing in boys' and men's sports, says that "sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth" in girls' and women's sports.
Similar legislation passed in Idaho earlier this year, and it was criticized because it allowed anyone to challenge a student athlete's gender, which would force the girl or woman to undergo DNA tests and "genital exams."
While Loeffler's bill does not explain exactly how schools will determine an athlete's gender, it defines eligibility for sports in terms of reproductive organs and chromosomes suggests that it may lead to similar examinations as the Idaho bill.
With the bill's wording vague and federal funding on the line, schools could opt to require genital exams for all female athletes to prove they aren't transgender.
Loeffler's bill is co-sponsored in the Senate by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), James Lankford (R-OK) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) and her press release announcing the bill quoted several far-right organizations and hate groups, including the Concerned Women for America and the designated hate group Family Research Council.
Similar legislation was introduced in the House this past January by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL).
Loeffler, who co-owns the WNBA team Atlanta Dream, came under fire earlier this year for
comments she made about the Black Lives Matter movement. She said, among other things, that the anti-racist movement "called for the removal of Jesus from churches and the disruption of the nuclear family structure, harbored anti-Semitic views, and promoted violence and destruction across the country."
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