Senate bid to prevent boys from playing girls’ sports gets stuck on filibuster

A Republican-led Senate bill to prevent boys from participating in girls’ sports failed to overcome the legislative filibuster on Monday night after it did not reach the necessary 60-vote threshold to advance. 

The bill failed to clear the key procedural hurdle by a vote of 51-45, along party lines. All Democratic senators voted against the motion to proceed, with the exception of absent Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., who were absent.

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act would require Title IX to treat gender as “recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” and would disallow any adjustment for it to apply to gender identity. 

The bill was introduced by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL, and has over 40 cosponsors in the Senate. It would also codify one of Trump’s many recent executive orders, giving the policy better longevity. 

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Sen. Tommy Tuberville has led an effort to safeguard women’s and girls’ sports for years.  (Getty Images)

Last month, Trump issued an executive order titled, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” 

“It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth,” it read. 

In a statement shared by Tuberville’s office prior to the Monday vote, the White House said, “The Administration strongly supports passage of S. 9, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025.”

“Through an amendment to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, this bill would expressly recognize what is already federal law—that it is an illegal act of discrimination for a man to participate in a federally funded athletic program or activity designated for women or girls,” the statement said. 

“This bill also recognizes that ‘sex,’ as used in the statutory scheme, is based solely on reproductive biology and genetics,” it continued. “Men participating in women’s sports not only is demeaning and dangerous to women and girls, but it erodes the integrity of our Nation’s civil rights laws. Congress’s affirmative vote on this bill would complement both federal court rulings and President Trump’s February 5, 2025, Executive Order, ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.'”

Tuberville’s effort to advance the bill has been years in the making, with the senator first introducing it during President Joe Biden’s administration, during which there were no such executive orders. 

Like the executive order, the measure would ban federal funding from going toward sports programs that allow biological men to participate in women’s and girls’ sports.  

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President Donald Trump signs an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women’s or girls’ sporting events, in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“Female athletes who work extremely hard should not have their future in athletics hindered because they are forced to compete against biological males. Instead of standing up for women and girls, Democrats voted to cosign Joe Biden’s attempted assault on Title IX,” said Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., in a statement. “I will continue working with President Trump and my Republican colleagues to preserve Title IX, ensuring every woman and girl has the chance to succeed.”  

The bill and executive order come amid growing concerns about biological men and boys who identify as transgender participating in and winning in events and leagues for women and girls. 

“President Trump ran on the issue of saving women’s sports and won in a landslide,” Tuberville said in a statement to Fox News Digital in January when he reintroduced the bill for the 119th Congress. “70% of Americans agree—men don’t belong in women’s sports or locker rooms. I have said many times that I think Title IX is one of the best things to come out of Washington. But in the last few years, it has been destroyed.”

“While I’m glad that the Biden administration ultimately rescinded the proposed rule, Congress has to ensure this never happens again. I am welcoming my first granddaughter this spring and won’t stop fighting until her rights to fairly compete are protected. I hope every one of my colleagues will join me in standing up for our daughters, nieces, and granddaughters by voting for this critical bill.”

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Tuberville first introduced the measure in 2023.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

At the time, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had signaled his plan to move forward with Tuberville’s bill, foreshadowing the early March vote. 

The Senate’s consideration of the bill comes as the Democratic Party faces an identity crisis, with many pointing to candidates’ unpopular position in favor of transgender participation in women’s sports as an example. 

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Last year, Rep. Seth Moulton, D-MA, received backlash from the party after saying in an interview, “Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face.” 

Moulton received immediate backlash. (Getty Images)

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“I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that,” he told the New York Times. 

Soon after the comments, his campaign manager resigned and Moulton faced protests.