A bill aimed at excluding transgender people from women’s sports took its first step in the United States Congress on Thursday, March 9, where conservatives are, according to them, leading an offensive in the name of sports equity.
“I find it disgusting that people born male are increasingly competing in women’s athletics,” said Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx.
This “deprives women of equal opportunities,” she told a commission on Wednesday, International Women’s Day.
The text, adopted in committee overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, is part of a broader battle against transgender people in the United States: several Republican states have recently passed laws prohibiting transitional care and treatment for adolescents.
Strong criticism from Democrats
A position strongly criticized by the Democratic camp, considering that it is discriminatory and very hurtful to deprive transgender athletes of sports events, and to interfere in their medical course.
The bill pushed by Republicans in Congress “would cut me off from my community” lambasted Rebekah Bruesehoff, a transgender teenager who plays field hockey, on Wednesday.
“Kids like me should be able to play sports with their friends,” the 16-year-old high school student pleaded at a press conference in front of Congress.
“There are real pressing problems affecting women’s sport”, such as harassment, sexual assault, lack of resources, and unequal pay, added elected official Mark Pocan, also present.
Support from feminists
The Wisconsin Democrat accused conservatives “of endangering the lives of transgender children for political gain.”
An argument that has the support of many feminist associations but also of sports stars, such as footballer Megan Rapinoe.
The text has very little chance of succeeding: if the House is now controlled by the Republicans, the Senate is still in the hands of the Democrats, opposed to the text.
US President Joe Biden has taken a stand on the subject, promulgating on the first day of his mandate a decree aimed at “preventing and combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation”.
