White House Urges Senate to Protect Women’s Sports

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—President Donald Trump’s White House is calling on Senate Democrats to represent the vast majority of Americans by voting Monday night to bar males from girls and women’s sports.

“Given America’s overwhelming support to protect women’s sports, Senate Democrats should put aside their left-wing agenda and vote to pass this nonpartisan, common sense policy,” Harrison Fields, principal deputy press secretary for the Trump administration, told The Daily Signal.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s bill, Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, would codify Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order denying federal funding to schools that allow transgender-identifying males to compete against females.

A New York Times poll published Jan. 19 found that 79% of respondents said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports. That includes 67% of Democrats.

Despite widespread constituent support, sources within the Capitol say getting the necessary votes from Democrats is unlikely. For the bill to pass, it would need the support of every Senate Republican and at least seven Senate Democrats.

In the hours leading up to the vote, Tuberville, a former Alabama football coach, is calling on Democrats to vote in line with the will of their constituencies. In the neighboring state of Georgia, 73% of voters don’t want men playing in women’s sports.

Almost 70% of Arizonans don’t want men in girls’ and women’s sports, and in Pennsylvania, the number rises to nearly 75%. In Michigan, nearly 78% of voters want women’s sports to be female only. Both senators from Arizona and from Michigan are Democrats.

Because the executive orders could be overturned by the next Democratic administration, Tuberville has tirelessly advocated for a vote on his bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to file cloture on the bill on Thursday, setting up the first procedural vote on Monday.

Since the president signed the executive order barring males from female sports, some blue states have failed to comply. California and Minnesota are under federal investigation for refusing to implement Trump’s recent executive order.