The House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act Tuesday, with former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines backing the measure — and it reportedly caused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to completely lose her cool.
The bill, aimed to protect biological females from having to compete against those born as men, passed 218-206, with all Republicans and two Democrats – Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzales of Texas – voting in favor. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., voted present.
It reportedly left Ocasio-Cortez fuming mad, and she protested the women’s protection bill in a fiery speech.
“What this also opens the door for, is for women to try to perform a very specific kind of femininity for the very kind of men who are drafting this bill, and to open up questioning of who is a woman because of how we look, how we present ourselves, and yes, what we chose to do with our bodies,” she said.
“Biggoted folks love this bill. Assaulters love this bill, but also CEOs love this bill. Because Los Angeles is on fire right now, and this is the No. 1 priority this majority has,” she said, before leaving the podium.
Gaines, who was forced to compete with and change in front of a biological male while an NCAA swimmer, dismissed Ocasio-Cortez’ concerns as fake.
“If she spent two seconds reading the bill, she would know this… has nothing to do with genital inspections,” Gaines said on Fox News Wednesday, responding to Ocasio-Cortez’ claims made during floor debate. “This resorts to birth certificates and a routine physical which every athlete already has to complete.”
The legislation would ban federally funded schools from allowing biological males to compete in female sports.
Schools violating the rule would lose federal funding. The policy would apply from kindergarten through college.
“Republicans who have voted consistently against the violence against women act… now want to pretend today that they care about women!” Ocasio-Cortez said during floor debate. “Trans girls are girls!”
Ocasio-Cortez had previously co-sponsored the 2019 Equality Act supporting transgender athletic participation and helped introduce a transgender bill of rights in 2023.
Several Democrats recently broke with their party’s recent stance on transgender athletes being allowed to compete and change in whatever lockeroom they wanted. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., previously opposed males in female sports but voted against Tuesday’s bill.
“But even Congressman Moulton was pressured into voting in opposition of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” Gaines said.
The bill uses reproductive biology and genetics at birth to determine sex. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.