Hakeem Jeffries says trans athletes ban bill will ‘unleash predators on girls’ but offers no explanation how
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sent a post on Bluesky criticizing the proposed Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act on Tuesday, making unsubstantiated claims that the law would “unleash horrific child predators on girls and young women.”
“The House Republican Child Predator Empowerment Act does not promote fairness and safety in sports. It will unleash horrific child predators on girls and young women throughout America. Unacceptable,” Jeffries wrote.
Jeffries’ office has not offered a substantial explanation as to how the law would do this when asked for comment by Fox News Digital.
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“The post speaks for itself,” a spokesperson from Jeffries’ office told Fox News Digital when asked for an elaboration of the comments.
The proposed Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act has been re-introduced in the Senate by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., in the House, where it will be voted on Tuesday.
This bill generally aims to prohibit school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls.
Specifically, the bill provides that it is a violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 for federally funded education programs or activities to operate, sponsor, or facilitate athletic programs or activities that allow individuals of the male sex to participate in programs or activities that are designated for women or girls.
Under the bill,sex is based on an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
The bill is only one page long, and clarifies that it will not be a violation for “males to train or practice with an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls so long as no female is deprived of a roster spot on a team or sport, opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, scholarship, admission to an educational institution, or any other benefit that accompanies participating in the athletic program or activity.”
Currently, 25 states already have their own similar statewide laws to prevent trans athletes from competing against girls and women.
Jeffries is not the only prominent Democrat to brand the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act as the Child Predator Empowerment Act.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., spoke out against the bill during a press conference on Tuesday. Aguilar suggested that the fact that the bill doesn’t establish an age limit for girls’ sports could “lead to inspections and individuals raising concerns.”
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“What is most offensive about the legislation is that it doesn’t distinguish girls’ sports at what age. It doesn’t distinguish whether you want an Olympic athlete, an NCAA player, high school sports player regulated by your state, or whether you’re just playing soccer as a 4-year-old or 5-year-old down the street,” Aguilar said.
“It potentially could lead to inspections and individuals raising concerns. And how you proceed with that is something that is concerning to the House Democratic Caucus. And so that’s why, you know, we felt that this is the GOP child predator empowerment act.”
Jeffries and Aguilar have each previously co-sponsored a piece of legislation that would allow trans athletes to compete in women’s and girls’ sports – The Equality Act.
That bill would “amend Federal education laws to ensure that they protect students from discrimination based on sex, including gender identity and sex characteristics, and guarantee students’ right to participate in sports on teams and in programs that best align with their gender identity.”
However, the Democrats’ push to enable trans inclusion in women’s sports became a party-wide vulnerability in the recent election cycle.
A national exit poll conducted by the CWA legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls’ and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls’ and women’s bathrooms” as important to them.
And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”
In June, a survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago asked respondents to weigh in on whether transgender athletes of both sexes should be permitted to participate in sports leagues that correspond to their preferred gender identity instead of their biological sex.
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Sixty-five percent answered that it should either be never or rarely allowed. When those polled were asked specifically about adult transgender female athletes competing on women’s sports teams, 69% opposed it.
Multiple Democrats have publicly pulled back on their support for trans inclusion, including Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.
Biden’s Education Department was even forced to withdraw a proposed rule that would outlaw states from banning trans inclusion in December.
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