U.S. Senator Katie Britt, R-Alabama, recently joined Senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, in introducing the Title IX Clarification Act, legislation that would strip Title IX anti-discrimination protections from LGBTQ+ students.
The bill would limit Title IX’s anti-discrimination requirements tied to federal education funding to matters of “biological sex,” overturning a Biden-era interpretation that found the law’s prohibition against discrimination “on the basis of sex” also applied to discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
“President Trump has taken decisive action through executive orders to protect young women on campuses across the country. Now, we must ensure these protections are codified into federal law,” Britt said. “We saw the Biden-Harris administration cave to the woke mob and allow Title IX to be abused in ways that permitted biological men to infringe on girls’ sports and spaces. We cannot let that happen again, and this legislation will restore regulatory clarity to ensure it does not.”
The legislation is part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration and Republican leaders to target transgender student-athletes and prohibit them from competing in sports. However, despite Republican lawmakers’ increasing focus on the issue, exceedingly few transgender student-athletes participate in sports nationwide.
In 2024, the NCAA reported that fewer than 0.002 percent—10 out of 510,000—of all college athletes identified as transgender.
Additionally, a 2024 study funded in part by the International Olympic Committee and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that transgender women may have several physical disadvantages when competing with cisgender women, including weaker lower-body strength and lung function.
Britt’s criticism of transgender women has not been limited to the issue of fairness in athletics. The senator also recently introduced the Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act, which would bar transgender women from becoming members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Britt called the measure “commonsense legislation.”
The DAR previously voted in June to continue allowing transgender women to participate in the organization.
The Title IX Clarification Act awaits consideration by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
In addition to Britt and Blackburn, the bill is sponsored by U.S. Senators Jim Justice, R-West Virginia; Ted Budd, R-North Carolina; Jim Risch, R-Idaho; Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming; Rick Scott, R-Florida; Pete Ricketts, R-Nebraska; Steve Daines, R-Montana; and Tim Sheehy, R-Montana.
