Equality Caucus Condemns House Passage of Child Predator Empowerment Act

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39), Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, released the following statement after House Republicans passed H.R. 28, a federal ban on transgender girls from participating in school sports—better known as the Child Predator Empowerment Act. This was one of the first bills to pass the House in the 119th Congress.

“Once again, Republicans have proved that their obsession with attacking trans people trumps lowering the cost of groceries or investing in our schools,” said Rep. Mark Takano, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “It’s shameful that one of the first bills to pass the House this Congress limits transgender girls’ ability to be a part of their school’s community, prevents kids from playing with their friends, and could force any girl to answer invasive personal questions about their bodies and face humiliating physical inspections  to “prove” that they’re a girl. Speaker Johnson and the Republican Conference are more focused on passing legislation that targets transgender children for exclusion and puts all girls at risk than working to address the problems impacting Americans daily.”


BACKGROUND
H.R. 28 amends 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. This bill would effectively ban all trans girls and trans women from participating on school sports teams, depriving them of an important opportunity to be part of their school community, learn sportsmanship, and challenge themselves. It would also limit the ability of non-binary and intersex students to participate in these programs as well.