CEC & DWC SLAM TRUMP’S BAN ON TRANS KIDS PLAYING WITH THEIR FRIENDS AT SCHOOL; CALL OUT HARM TO ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39) and Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) released the following statements after President Trump issued an Executive Order that seeks to ban trans girls and women from participating in girls and women’s sports:
“Donald Trump’s Executive Order is a federal takeover of sports throughout the country and an attempt to keep trans children, as young as kindergarteners, from being able to play on school sports teams with their friends l,” said Rep. Mark Takano, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “Trans kids play sports at school for the same reasons as their peers: to be part of a community, challenge themselves, and learn sportsmanship. In his campaign against these kids’ right to exist freely, President Trump’s Executive Order could open any school-age child up to demands for physical inspections of their bodies. The White House has made it clear: they’re happy to endanger the safety and wellbeing of all kids in order to continue their attacks against trans kids.”
“Today, on National Women and Girls in Sports Day, President Trump hatefully banned trans women and girls from sports. This action is yet another predatory move that will make sports less safe for ALL women and girls. Girls and women who are tall, strong, gender non-conforming, and excelling in their sport will be questioned and strip searched in locker rooms across the country. A teenage woman athlete in Utah was already investigated because she ‘didn’t look feminine enough.’ It’s disgusting,” said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, Chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus. “Sadly, it does nothing to solve the real challenges women athletes experience on and off the field—it doesn’t lower costs, address pay gaps, address sexual harassment, or secure access to health care or child care. This week, Trump is also renewing calls to shut down the Department of Education, shutter the office that investigates discrimination and harassment, and limit the ability to enforce Title IX. He keeps making it easier to target women and girls’ safety in schools and sports. It is clear that he does not truly care about protecting women,” DWC Chair Fernandez continued. “Trump is trying to distract Americans, creating chaos to hide his government’s corruption. Giving Musk the keys to the Treasury, freezing federal funding, and shutting down government agencies that help women and girls. But we are watching them. We will continue to call them out, we will keep fighting for women on and off the field, and we will stand strong against Trump’s attack on women.”
BACKGROUND
Earlier this year, the House considered H.R. 28, better known as the “Child Predator Empowerment Act,” which amended existing law to make it a violation of Title IX for recipients of federal financial assistance to allow transgender girls or women to participate in girls’ and women’s athletic programs. Hundreds of organizations, including the National Women’s Law Center, Women’s Sports Foundation, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, wrote to Congress to voice their opposition to the bill and blanket bans on transgender athletes’ inclusion in sports.