House Republicans reveal their top legislative priority: Attacking transgender rights

by Curated January 3, 2025 · Gay News / Gay Pride / Gay Rights / LGBTQ Nation

The description does not explain how the bill defines biological sex nor does it discuss how it would account for intersex individuals. It is also unclear if this would only extend to athletics or to other areas of Title IX, which would affect issues like restroom usage and non-discrimination protections, according to independent journalists Erin Reed and Mady Castigan.

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This bill is listed among 11 others, the majority of which aim to expand what would qualify an immigrant for deportation. Others attack doctors who fail to provide the “proper degree of care” for fetuses that survive an abortion or forbid the International Criminal Court from targeting a “protected person” of the United States and allies.

This provision is the first one listed out of 12, signaling the intent of House Republicans to attack transgender rights at the federal level. There is recent precedent for this – the recently passed 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, an annual bill that provides funding for the military, contains a provision that bans “sterilizing” gender affirming care for minors. Eight-one Democrats voted in favor along with most Republicans and it was signed into law by President Joe Biden, making this the first anti-LGBTQ+ federal legislation passed in over 30 years.

A separate provision, proposed by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), would have removed this section. However, it was shot down by Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

“We’ve seen this playbook before,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) during the debate of this provision. “For decades Republicans attacked the right to abortion. They slowly chipped away, state by state, law by law, and today there is no Constitutional right to abortion.”

“We must fight off efforts by politicians to force themselves into exam rooms. They think that they know better than trained healthcare providers and patients. They do not. The only expertise they are exhibiting is an expertise in oppression, suppression, and repression of health care freedom, and their attacks will not stop there. Freedom isn’t lost all at once. It happens one inch at a time. And as the Senate author of the Trans Bill of Rights, this is an inch that we cannot give.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) demanded anti-trans provisions to the rules package to restrict transgender women from using women’s facilities at the Capitol complex. However, that provision is not in the resolution.

McBride, rather than speaking out against the bathroom ban, chose to comply with it and use the restroom in her office while other trans people who work at or visit the Capitol may have to follow the new rule.

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Author: Mira Lazine