The House passed a bill to protect women's sports today

But we aren't near done yet

Today, the House passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 in a 218-206 vote, with two Texas Democrats (Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez) joining Republicans to support the bill. North Carolina Democrat Don Davis voted present.

Despite the fact that Congressman Seth Moulton (Mass) has recently expressed concerns about his daughters playing against males, he voted against the bill. I guess he didn’t like being called a bigot and having members of his staff resign so he decided to sell his daughters out.

The legislation — H.R. 28 — bans trans-identified males from competing on girls’ and women’s teams and amends Title IX to define sex as based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth and codify this definition into law.

The fact that 206 people voted against this bill says to me that they care much more about the feelings of confused males than the rights of girls and women.

AOC had some shit to say about it all.

I’ll take it point by point:

There will be no “genital examinations.” It’s a cheek swab. That’s it. No one is looking in anyone’s pants, AOC. This is bullshit fear-mongering.

Trans girls are girls. No they aren’t. They are male. They are boys who pretend to be girls.

I play co-ed sports all the time. Yeah, not in highly competitive sports. Congressional kickball doesn’t count.

She says this bill requires girls and women to perform a “specific kind of femininity.” No. We embrace all girls and women. The tomboys, the girly girls, all of ‘em. It’s the gender ideology movement which adheres to outdated stereotypes about femininity and masculinity. It’s the gender ideologues who say: well, if you like playing with dolls instead of trucks you might be a girl even if you have a penis. And then they put that child on puberty blockers and cross sex hormones. That’s on y’all. Not us.

She says the people who love this bill are: bigoted folks, assaulters and CEOs. Okay that’s weird. CEOs? Huh? The misogynists prioritize boys’ wants over girls’ rights. Assaulters take advantage of these language games and self ID to enter women’s spaces like prisons and shelters. And I don’t know any CEOs but me who actually care about the bill and would publicly say they support it.

Los Angeles is on fire and this is the priority?! Yes, Congress still governs in the midst of a crisis. And Los Angeles is on fire because of failed Democratic leadership from Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom.

Lastly, no one is being banned or prevented from playing sports. Everyone is permitted to play in the category to which they were born.

Don’t get too excited. Senate Republicans have been moving to advance a similar measure, but the bill could stall in the Republican-controlled Senate because it would require some Democratic support. Which honestly, seems unlikely.

Even if it passes, it only impacts sports that take place within the education system when federal funding is received. Private club sports will not be impacted. The Olympic movement will not be impacted. And obviously, it has no bearing on international competition.

And here’s the thing — as I’ve said here many times but I’ll keep saying: it doesn’t change for good until we change the culture.

The Safe Sport Act passed in 2018. The U.S. Center for SafeSport has been completely overwhelmed by the number of abuse and misconduct reports it receives. In 2021, SafeSport received a record 3,708 reports. Cases are backlogged for years. But athletes are afraid to criticize SafeSport for fear of retaliation.

This legislation passed 7 years ago and the problem is not solved. The coaching culture has not changed. Emotional, physical and sexual abuse is still happening.

My gymnastics coaches have been under investigation for over 5 years. One of them retired during the process thus evading being banned!

I traveled to Washington D.C. in 2017 and met with Senator Dianne Feinstein with about ten other former athletes. The meeting happened amidst the Larry Nassar investigation, before he was convicted. Senator Feinstein had this to say to all of us:

I will pass a bill. I’ll get bipartisan support. But legislation won’t change the culture. You have to do that. And that is the hard part.

She was right. And years after the legislation passed, the abuse continues.

Men were entering women’s sports before it was legislated. Will Thomas swam — and won — in the NCAA Finals in 2022. There was no legislation that allowed it. It was the culture that did.

This will not end with legislation. People like AOC and states like California will continue to insist that trans women are women and that we are bigots. We know that isn’t true, and the most hopeful part of where we are right now is that many of us no longer care when they call us bigots! We know it is meaningless. But we need more people who agree with us — the sane 80% of Americans — to also not care about being called silly names. Obviously many still care. People like Seth Moulton who wussed out today.

Until the culture changes and we all go back to knowing that men and women are different, sex is binary and women deserve safety, privacy and fairness, we keep fighting. And I suspect we will be at this for a good long while.