A federal bill that would strip federal funding from organizations that allow males to compete in girls’ and women’s sports has resurfaced as the new Republican-led Congress convenes.
U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both R-Wyoming, are two of the bill’s nearly two dozen co-sponsors.
Titled the “Protection of Women and Girls In Sports Act of 2025,” the bill would ban federal funding for sports programs that allow males to compete in girls' and women's school sports, and would specify under Title IX that boys' and girls' categories are based on biological sex.
An earlier version of the bill fizzled after its introduction in March of 2023 and saw no further action. But main sponsor Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, has vowed to bring it back, and the new version looks likely to get a floor vote, Fox news reports.
Barrasso told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday email that the bill is about preserving a level playing field.
“Biological males should not play on women’s sports teams,” said Barrasso. “To let them do so is disturbing, unfair and unsafe. We cannot allow delusional ideologies to jeopardize the hard work of women athletes across the country.”
In a Tuesday email to Cowboy State Daily, Lummis pointed to a recent transgender sports participation controversy that affected Wyoming.
“The far left wants to erase women’s rights with its out-of-touch woke priorities,” said Lummis. “Securing a fair playing field for biological women by preventing biological males from competing in women's sports should not be a partisan issue. I will continue to work with my colleagues to fight for female athletes, like the University of Wyoming women’s volleyball team, to compete in the sports they love.”
The University of Wyoming women’s volleyball team forfeited twice this past season to San Jose State University, taking losses with both forfeits.
A top SJSU player was Blaire Fleming, whom numerous court documents say is transgender.
UW never officially attributed its forfeits to Fleming’s inclusion on the team, but three of the UW volleyball players are now parties in a women’s-rights lawsuit against San Jose State University and the Mountain West Conference.
Whatever ‘Sex’ Discrimination Means …
The federal Title IX education law has sparked ceaseless debate in the past five years.
The U.S. Supreme Court proclaimed in the 2020 landmark case Bostock v. Clayton County that federal employment laws that ban sex discrimination also ban employers from discriminating against people for being gay or transgender.
Several advocates of transgender causes have argued that the same principle applies to schools under similarly-worded Title IX.
The high court has not yet determined whether it does.
President Joe Biden’s administration proposed Title IX-based rules treating restrictions on transgender access to some provisions as discrimination.
But the administration withdrew those rules last month after they weathered difficult court battles, and after the reelection of Donald Trump to the presidency.
Out Of Our Hands
If the bill passes federally, it could simplify the work of the Wyoming Legislature, which has grappled with transgender issues regularly for the past three years.
Wyoming in 2023 banned male participation in girls’ school sports from grades seven through 12. Detractors at the time worried that doing so could put state schools at odds with the Biden administration and risk federal funding, a concern that looks unlikely to resurface under the incoming Trump presidency, which has vowed to keep males out of girls’ sports.
In the upcoming session this month, the Legislature is poised to consider two bills dealing with transgender issues in sports.
State Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, is introducing Senate File 44, which would specify that in intercollegiate sports involving University of Wyoming and other state college students, men’s and women’s team participation would be based on biological sex.
Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, is introducing House Bill 60, which would expand the current sports ban from kindergarten through college.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
