The House has approved a bill banning transgender athletes from women’s sports in schools receiving federal funds

Washington: The House just passed a bill that would stop transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports at schools that get federal funding. The vote was pretty close, 218 to 206, and it mostly fell along party lines.
Interestingly, only two Democrats from Texas, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, supported the bill. One Democrat, Don Davis from North Carolina, chose to vote present, while all Republicans were on board with it.
Now, this bill is headed to the Senate. Rep. Greg Steube from Florida, who pushed for this legislation, said it’s all about protecting women’s sports. He made a big speech about how clear the difference between men and women is and how some folks on the left are trying to mess with that.
On the other side, Rep. Lori Trahan from Massachusetts, who played Division I sports in college, argued that Republicans are overstepping their bounds. She believes the experts in sports should be the ones making the rules, not politicians.
Trahan and other Democrats have even called this bill the “Child Predator Empowerment Act,” saying it could put kids at risk and lead to unnecessary scrutiny of their bodies.
This isn’t the first time this bill has come up. It passed the House last April without any Democratic support but didn’t go anywhere in the Senate back then. Now that Republicans are in charge, it’s getting another shot.
Speaker Mike Johnson from Louisiana, who recently backed a ban on transgender people using bathrooms that match their gender identity, said Republicans are standing up for women. He emphasized that his views are rooted in his Christian beliefs and biology.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.