[Pages S1453-S1455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



          Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025

  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, today, we have a very important day 
for women and girls across this country. The third time is the charm. 
This is the third time that I have had a vote on this bill. The other 
two times it has failed because we have had almost zero Democrats help 
to support women and girls in sports.
  Over the past 4 years, women's sports at all levels have been under 
attack. Since the beginning of time, people have agreed that sex is 
assigned at birth and determined by God. But under the Biden 
administration, you had people claiming that men can get pregnant--
pure, absolute insanity.
  But it didn't stop there. They weren't content just to erase gender 
norms that have been accepted for thousands of years. No, they wanted 
to allow transgender men to participate in women's and girls' sports. 
This has been happening at schools all across our country. We have 
women's teams in some States that are all boys. Let me say that again. 
We have women's teams in some States participating on the high school 
level that are all transgender boys--no opportunities for girls or 
women to participate on the team.
  Young women have been forced to compete against men and even share 
locker rooms and shower time. And on top of that, your taxpayer dollars 
are paying for it.
  Thankfully, President Trump just signed an Executive order that said 
no more--no more Federal money to any State that allows this to happen. 
But you have to understand, this only lasts as long as President Trump 
is in office. So we need this vote, which is going to happen in around 
an hour, to pass so we can make this into law.
  This Executive order that he signed can be reversed. So we are going 
to continue to fight some States that are even not going by the 
Executive order--like Maine, some in Michigan, some in New Jersey. Some 
are saying, ``We are not going to go by that law,'' even though the 
President of the United States says that men and women can't 
participate on the same team. That will end up going to court. So we 
will see how that happens and what the answer will be.
  But a big part of the problem is that we have created an unfair 
playing field where different States have had different laws impacting 
women and girls everywhere. This is not only confusing, but it is very, 
very dangerous. Congress needs to act on this to protect women in 
sports and to ensure title IX protections are preserved.
  My bill that we are voting on today, in about an hour, the Protection 
of Women and Girls in Sports Act, would make sure women's rights to 
equal competition, equal scholarships, and safe locker rooms are all 
protected.
  This legislation has already passed the House, just about a month 
ago, with two Democrats actually supporting it. I appreciate the 
support of all of my Republican colleagues on this. You have all joined 
me in championing this very important cause for the past 3 years.
  I especially want to thank Leader Thune for bringing this bill to the 
floor here in the U.S. Senate. This will be the third time. It is hard 
to get a bill on this floor, but it is so important, and he understands 
that.
  I also want to thank my friend and former colleague Senator Joe 
Manchin of West Virginia, who is the only Democrat in the last few 
years to support

[[Page S1454]]

this, when he was in the Senate. Unfortunately, my other Democratic 
colleagues have been radio silent on this very issue, despite the fact 
that a recent poll shows 67 percent of Democrats do not want men in 
women's sports--67 percent.
  So I would like to make the case to each and every one of my 
colleagues today on this important issue.
  As most of you know, I spent 40 years as a coach. What you may not 
know is that my first job wasn't in college, but it was coaching high 
school girls' basketball. I don't want to date myself, but that is 
about the time title IX started, and it was implemented--most of it--
during my tenure as a girls' coach.
  I saw firsthand how the immediate difference was made through title 
IX. Before title IX, in a lot of schools, college women athletes really 
didn't exist. You had very few sports. You might have had basketball. 
You might have had track. But you didn't have volleyball. You didn't 
have softball. You didn't have anything else.
  When title IX came about, we started more women's sports. After title 
IX was enacted, things started to change. For the first time, young 
women I coached had equal access to facilities, resources, 
scholarships, and all kinds of competition. I saw these hard-working 
young women go to start successful careers and become leaders in their 
communities, and a lot of it was because of their opportunity to play 
sports at every level.
  I still keep in touch with many of these young girls. They are not 
young anymore, but I am proud of them for the success they had. Looking 
back on it now, I wonder if they would have had the same opportunities 
had we not had title IX. Would they have had the same success if they 
had to compete against male athletes?
  One of the most frequent talking points from the other side on this 
issue is: It is not a big deal. It isn't impacting that many women.
  That is not true. At least 900 medals that belonged to women have 
gone to men just over the last few years of men competing against 
women. In Pennsylvania alone, 66 female athletes have lost placements 
to male participants since 2020. Now, how sad is that? For each woman, 
the medals that went to men--there are potentially hundreds of other 
women who lost out on that same opportunity, not to mention the 
hundreds of girls who perhaps did not make a team at all because they 
did not have a spot. You only can have so many on a team. How many 
young women missed out on a scholarship because that man or biological 
boy took that scholarship? It is not fair.
  So no, this is a minor issue impacting a few Americans; that is what 
my Democrat colleagues are saying--only a few.
  You know, I took the liberty of looking up how many women and girls 
participate in women's sports in some of my Democrat colleagues' own 
States. More than 77,000 girls participate in high school athletics in 
the State of Georgia. In Michigan, 114,000; in Virginia, 164,000; New 
Hampshire, 17,000; Pennsylvania, almost 150,000; New Mexico, almost 
20,000; Minnesota, 98,000; Arizona, 120,633. Don't tell me it is not 
going to affect these States when today my Democrat colleagues come on 
this floor--that represent these States--and vote against this bill. It 
will affect it, and it will affect it for years.
  So, as you can see, men competing in women's sports has had a 
negative impact on a lot of different girls across this country, but, 
you know, it is not just trophies. It is about playing time. It is 
about learning and being on a team, learning how to win, learning how 
to lose.
  Again, going back to what I said earlier, there are entire high 
school teams that are women's teams that are nothing but transitioned 
biological boys. Because of that, you have the young girls sitting in 
the classroom or going home or in a PE class that don't have that same 
opportunity. It is the principle of the thing.
  Title IV has always been about protecting women.
  Last week, my wife Suzanne and I were proud to welcome our first 
granddaughter Rosie Grace. She is about 5 or 6 days old. We want her to 
have the same opportunities that all the other girls have had over the 
years. She deserves that right--fair competition, scholarships, 
trophies.
  I have already bought her her first set of golf clubs at age 5 days 
old. But if Democrats have their way today, she may one day be forced 
to compete against a man.
  Let me tell you something. If she has to dress in a locker room with 
a boy, you are looking at a grandfather that will raise hell. If they 
shower in the same showers, we are going to have problems.
  So what we are creating here are more and more problems across the 
country that we don't need. I heard a story the other day about a sixth 
grade girl in Minnesota who was changing in a locker room after swim 
practice when a biological man who identified as a female walked in and 
came within 4 or 5 feet of the young girl to grab something. Let me 
tell you, her dad came unglued. You would have, too. Anybody would 
have.
  So this is not about politics; this is about right or wrong. Seventy-
nine percent of Americans agree on this issue: Allowing men to compete 
against women is just plain wrong. Seventy-nine percent of the entire 
country.
  Like I said earlier, 67 percent of my Democrat colleagues--their 
constituents say: No way, Jose. This is not going to happen.
  So to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, you may want to 
check with your constituents before you make this vote today in about 
an hour because if polling is even close to correct, 8 out of 10 of 
your voters do not want men participating against women.
  If that doesn't strike a chord with you, let me ask you this: Do you 
have a daughter? Do you have granddaughters? Do you have nieces? How 
would you feel if they trained for years, waking up early every 
morning, staying after school late practicing, putting in those long 
hours where nobody else is watching, missing spring break, family 
vacations, birthday parties, and holidays, making a tremendous physical 
and financial sacrifice, all so they can one day have an opportunity to 
either win a trophy or win a scholarship, but then only to have the 
opportunity ripped away by a bigger, faster, stronger male athlete 
because they want to participate against women?
  Well, you know what, that happened to somebody, and most of you 
probably know who it is--Riley Gaines. Riley worked her entire life to 
earn a scholarship to the University of Kentucky in swimming. She was 
winning races left and right until a man named Will Thomas changed his 
name to Lia Thomas and signed up for the Kentucky women's swim team.
  Riley and Will Thomas ended up tying in one race for fifth place in 
the 2022 NCAA Women's championship tournament. Riley wasn't even 
allowed to have a trophy. The NCAA came and said: We only have one 
trophy. We are going to give it to Lia because we think that is 
important.
  Imagine if Riley was your daughter and all that time and effort was 
put into her career, her life, to win a trophy, but she had a 
biological boy decide he wanted to be a woman? Beyond that trophy, how 
would you feel knowing your daughter is sharing a locker room with that 
same man--which she refused to do and dressed in a janitors locker 
room.
  You know, I have heard from countless girls across the country who 
have described to me how men have joined their teams and proceeded to 
undress in front of them, much to their horror. One particular young 
woman Paula Scanlan, who swam at the University of Pennsylvania, shared 
how being forced to be in a locker room with a male was particularly 
traumatizing for her as she had already survived a sexual assault 
months earlier.
  It is just plain awful what we are doing to these young women. Plain 
awful. No common sense.
  Thanks to President Trump's Executive order, the NCAA recently 
announced men will no longer be allowed to compete against women on the 
college level.
  While this is a step in the right direction, the NCAA's rules still 
allow to this day--NCAA changed their rules, but they still allow 
biological boys or men to enjoy all the other benefits of being on a 
women's team--practicing, dressing in the locker rooms, showering--but 
they just can't compete in a

[[Page S1455]]

game. That makes no sense. The NCAA needs to stand up for young women 
across this country and say: No way. It just makes no sense when we 
have made that rule.
  To fully protect women, Congress needs to pass legislation on this, 
as I said earlier. We have to pass it. It is the only way it is going 
to stop because the people out there that have lost their minds are 
going to continue to force this to happen.
  The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act would prevent a 
school from receiving Federal funding if it lets boys compete against 
women. That is the only way we can stop it. It also defines gender as 
male and female--what an idea, right?
  I have seen some of my colleagues on the left voice concerns about 
this type of language being hate speech: This is hateful to do this. I 
don't see it that way. What is hateful is allowing women's scholarships 
and opportunities to be stripped away from their hard work and given to 
biological boys. I thought we left discrimination against women behind 
in this country decades ago, but I guess not because here we are in 
2025 hanging women and girls out to dry.
  Think about it. Are we going to sacrifice the rights of 50 percent of 
this country for the rights of a small few?
  I was deeply disturbed this summer to see the videos of men boxing 
against women in the Olympics. You know, when I was growing up, I was 
taught that, hey, you should never hit a girl, but I guess that is OK 
nowadays. One study found that males can punch 162 percent harder than 
females. Perhaps that is why you rarely hear about a woman competing in 
men's sports. It is not politically correct to say, but it is true.
  Someday, somebody is going to get seriously injured if we don't do 
something about this. It is unsafe, it is unfair, and it is downright 
wrong.
  I have heard from countless parents, students, teachers, and coaches 
all over the country about this issue. It is a huge topic. I bet my 
Democrat colleagues in blue States have heard the same questions even 
if they won't admit it.
  The American people are on the same page on this, and their verdict 
is in: They want men out of women's sports and women's locker rooms.
  Let's do the right thing. This doesn't have to be a Republican or 
Democrat issue. This is about standing up for girls and women, which I 
know my Democrat colleagues also care about. This is long overdue. I 
hope we can put politics aside, and in about an hour, in 45 minutes, do 
the right thing and protect women and girls in sports.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority leader.