Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar, both of Texas, were the only Democrats on Tuesday to side with Republicans in passing a bill that would bar transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
The Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act would amend Title IX — the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in schools and educational programs that receive federal funding — to prohibit schools from allowing transgender girls or women to participate to allow athletic programs or activities for women or girls.”
It defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The bill passed the house On Tuesday, the vote was 218-206, with Gonzalez and Cuellar joining all Republicans in support. Three Republicans and six Democrats did not vote, and one Democrat voted present.
“I believe that there should be rules to keep our sport fair and that boys should not participate in girls’ sports,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Members of Congress must have the freedom to vote representative of their district. “As Democrats, we should not be afraid to vote for our district’s values because we are afraid of Washington.”
Gonzalez NOTUS said Before Tuesday’s vote, he said the House bill was “very broad” and he hopes the Senate, which will consider the bill in the coming weeks, will add more guardrails.
Gonzalez, who narrowly won re-election in November, was criticized during the campaign by his opponent, former Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Texas), for supporting gender-affirming care for transgender minors. An ad run by Flores’ campaign claimed that Gonzalez was pushing “sex changes for children.”
In response to the complaint, Gonzalez said Flores lied about his position.
“I have never supported taxpayer dollars for gender reassignment surgery and never will,” Gonzalez said said Spectrum News in October.
A spokesman for Cuellar, who voted against the bill in 2023, told The Hill he voted for the bill this time “based on the concerns and feedback he received from voters in his district.”
In an interview with Politico in November Cuellar, the faces federal bribery chargessaid Democrats need a more effective communications strategy on transgender rights.
“[Republicans] Make those themes in ads and that’s partly because the Democrats set that up for them,” he said. “Transgender, pro-choice, I understand that, but the problem is that Democrats sometimes underestimate or don’t understand the general public, and if they believe that these are the big problems for the general public in rural America or South Texas, you misinterpret the public.”
Cuellar also broke away from House Democrats in 2023 by voting for a Republican-backed defense bill that would have restricted access to abortion and gender-affirming health care for transgender military members.
