WASHINGTON—The House today passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act by a vote of 219-203. This legislation would defend women’s safety and opportunity by prohibiting any federally funded organization or institution that operates or sponsors athletic programs from allowing men or boys to compete in sports programs specifically for women or girls.

Heritage Foundation scholars Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow and former senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Education, and Jay Richards, director of the DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family, made the following statement on Thursday:

“When the federal government fails to follow the plain letter of the law and instead manipulates long-standing protections for girls and women in education to fit its radical agenda, a bill like the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act becomes critically necessary.

“Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination in any federally funded education program. It was passed to ensure girls were given the same educational opportunities as boys, regardless of their sex. The congressional record is replete with references to how the unequal treatment of girls and women in education was a catalyzing force for the enactment of Title IX.

“But the Biden administration would rather misinterpret this long-standing civil rights law to let men compete on women’s sports teams, creating an unfair and unsafe environment for female athletes in the K-12 and higher education arenas. Such an interpretation both strains credibility and perpetuates the very kind of discrimination Title IX was passed to prevent.

“Not giving girls the opportunity to fairly compete will have a disastrous effect on their education environment and future opportunities. We commend House Republicans for ensuring common sense prevails in federal education law, preventing still-rampant sex discrimination, and reminding young women that they are deserving of every opportunity given to men.”