Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he is an ally of transgender athletes on Monday after a vote in the Senate on proposed legislation that would prevent transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act failed to obtain more than the 60 votes necessary to avoid a Senate filibuster.
“To provide that for purposes of determining compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” the legislation reads.
It was defeated in a party-line vote, with 51 Republicans voting to support it and 46 Democrats voting against it. Fetterman voted against the bill and criticized the measure in a social media post on Monday. He said transgender athletes deserved “an ally” and that he was one.
“The small handful of trans athletes in PA in a political maelstrom deserve an ally and I am one,” Fetterman posted. “Depersonalized as ‘they/them’ in a political ad, but are just schoolchildren.”
Fetterman referred to legislative action and criticism of transgender women participating in female sports as cruel and not a “dignified solution.”
“Empty show votes or cruelty on social media aren’t part of a thoughtful, dignified solution,” Fetterman added.
Fetterman did not provide any commentary about female schoolchildren who would be forced to compete against transgender athletes despite claims to the contrary when citing gender identity.
The bill was particularly important to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). He introduced the legislation, along with 39 other co-sponsors. Before the vote, he commented on the bill’s history and the challenges of getting it passed because of the lack of Democratic support.
“This is the third time that I’ve had a vote on this bill,” Tuberville said. “The other two times have failed because we have had almost zero Democrats help to support women and girls in sports.”
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Meanwhile, Fetterman’s comments and vote on the bill reinforce his commitment to issues and values that align with his left-wing politics. Previously, it was suggested that Fetterman might be straying from his political party’s beliefs, given his comments regarding Hamas, co-sponsoring and voting for the Laken Riley Act, and meeting President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
There is hope among some that the spirit of the bill and the declarations made in the legislation will still be implemented nationwide. In February, Trump issued the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, which made it U.S. policy “to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
