The U.S. Senate failed to advance the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 on March 3. The bill, which aimed to codify restrictions on transgender athletes in women’s sports, did not garner the necessary 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, resulting in a 51-45 party-line vote against its advancement.
Introduced by Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), the legislation sought to amend Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to define sex based solely on reproductive biology and genetics at birth. This would effectively bar transgender women from participating in women’s athletic programs funded by federal dollars. The bill was supported by a coalition of Republican senators and was seen as an extension of recent executive orders issued by former President Donald Trump aimed at limiting transgender participation in sports.
The bill had previously passed the House of Representatives with a narrow margin of 218-206.
However, Senate Democrats stood united against the measure, arguing that it represented a discriminatory approach towards transgender individuals. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) condemned the legislation, asserting that it would inflict harm on transgender youth and undermine their rights.
Supporters of the bill claimed that it was necessary to protect opportunities for biological females in competitive sports.
Approximately 1.6 million people in the U.S. identify as transgender, including both adults and youth. This represents about 0.5% of the total U.S. population.
In NCAA sports, it’s estimated there are likely no more than 100 transgender women competing in the women’s category. Only 34 transgender athletes have openly competed in U.S. college sports to date.
For K-12 school sports, Save Women’s Sports (an organization advocating for restrictions on transgender athletes) identified only five transgender athletes competing on girls’ teams in 2023.
At the Olympic level, only two transgender women in the world have made it to the Olympics since 2003, with only one (Laurel Hubbard) actually competing.
