The City Council’s trio of female Republicans are demanding that a long-stalled bill prohibiting biological males from participating in women’s sports at universities and public schools reach Congress for vote.
Inna Vernikov of Brooklyn and Queens pols Joann Ariola and Vickie Paladino fired off a letter Friday to Rep.Tom Cole (R-Okla.), urging the House’s Committee on Rules, which Cole chairs, to finally move the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” to the full House floor for consideration.
“Biological males are physiologically different than biological females,” the letter says. “In sports, those differences provide males with substantial physical advantages over females.”
“In this country, people have a right to express their identity, without fear of discrimination or reprisals,” the letter continues. “But that right does not, and should not, extend to participation in any activity they wish — particularly when that participation infringes on the rights of an entire class of citizens and threatens to erase more than five decades of progress.
The legislation was introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) in February in a bid to “save women’s sports,” as the national debate over transgender rights in amateur sports continues to mushroom.
Athlete’s sex should only be recognized by “reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” according to the bill.
Earlier versions of the legislation failed to pass in the last two sessions, when Democrats still held the majority. It is scheduled to be heard by the Rules Committee Monday.
Cole has yet to sign onto legislation as a co-sponsor, and his office did not return messages.
