Republicans in the 119th Congress are making the issue of preventing transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports one of their top priorities.

Congressman Greg Steube and 56 Republican co-sponsors reintroduced the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act shortly after Speaker Johnson was re-elected and swore in the House members on Friday, making it one of the first actions of the new Congress. 

The legislation would amend Title IX to prohibit “a recipient of federal financial assistance 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.” 

Additionally, the bill would establish a study to examine the “adverse psychological, developmental, participatory, and sociological results to girls of allowing males to compete” on or be team members of sports teams that are “designed for girls.”

In a statement, Mr. Steube said, “The radical left is not in step with the American people on the issue of protecting women’s sports.”

“Americans have loudly spoken that they do not want men stealing sports records from women, entering their daughters’ locker rooms, replacing female athletes on teams, and taking their daughters’ scholarship opportunities,” he added. “My legislation stands for truth, safety, and reality: men have no place in women’s sports. Republicans have promised to protect women’s sports, and under President Trump’s leadership, we will fulfill this promise.”

The president of the International Women’s Forum, Carrie Lukas, praised Mr. Steube for reintroducing the bill in a statement, saying Republicans are “sending a message to all the female athletes and their loved ones that, at long last, help is on the way. The Biden-Harris administration consistently put women’s interests last.”

“Women and girls were told to step aside and keep quiet while their opportunities were taken by men. This travesty ends in 2025,” she added.

The bill has received criticism from some groups that advocate for women and LGBT protections. The National Women’s Law Center said the legislation is a “hateful” and “discriminatory attempt to target an already marginalized group rather than promote fairness and safety in school sports for women and girls.” The organization urged Congress to focus on what it says are the “actual, pervasive discriminatory barriers that women and girls continue to face,” such as a gap in the number of athletic programs available for women compared to those available for men.

House Republicans in the 118th Congress passed the same bill in their first 100 days in the majority, but it was not given a vote in the Senate. 

During a December speech at the AmericaFest conference in Arizona, Trump said, “With a stroke of my pen on Day 1, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy.”

“And I will sign executive orders to end child mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools,” he continued. “And we will keep men out of women’s sports.”

Trump has repeatedly promised he would prevent transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports in his second term.