U.S. Senate Democrats blocked a federal bill Monday that would have banned males from female-designated school sports — days after two bills that would have expanded Wyoming’s state-level trans sports ban also died, but one is still alive.
The federal bill, S.9, needed to clear a 60-vote threshold Monday to advance, but failed the motion with 51 votes in favor and 45 against. It could be revived, but would need support from Democratic senators.
The bill proposes to prohibit school programs from letting males participate in female-designated sports. It would make that kind of cross-sex participation a clear violation of the federal education anti-discrimination statute Title IX.
Wyoming senior Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, voted in favor of the bill. The state’s junior Sen. Cynthia Lummis was excused as “necessarily absent,” according to the floor minutes.
"Women have fought for years for Title IX protections to give us an equal opportunity in sports, yet last night, 45 Democrats chose to effectively erase those rights under the guise of so-called ‘progress,'" wrote Lummis in a Tuesday email to Cowboy State Daily. "My colleagues across the aisle are on the wrong side of history, and 79% of Americans agree.
"This is the women’s rights issue of our time, and I will continue to fight for women and girls across the country to have fair competition in their respective sports.”
Barrasso echoed the sentiment, saying Democrats, all of whom present for the vote logged a "nay," are "out of touch on this common-sense issue."
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a matching federal bill in January. It is pending before the Senate.
State Maneuvers
Wyoming in 2023 passed its own law governing this issue, banning male participation in female-designated interscholastic sports from grades seven through 12.
State Republican Reps. Martha Lawley (Worland) and Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (Cody) each tried to expand that ban to the college level this year. Those were House Bill 60 (which would also have expanded the ban to lower elementary grades) and House Bill 274, respectively.
A third bill expanding the ban to the college level, Senate File 44, remains viable as of this writing.
"As a former collegiate athlete, I believe the provision of single-sex sports is necessary if women and girls are to have opportunities and a fair playing field," said Rodriguez-Williams, in a Tuesday text to Cowboy State Daily.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
