Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025
Click any stage to learn more about the legislative process.
Would amend Title IX to bar federally funded schools and colleges from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth is male to compete in athletic programs designated for women or girls, defining sex for this purpose solely by reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
The bill represents a significant shift in how Title IX is applied to athletics, directly affecting transgender athletes in programs from K-12 through higher education.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would amend Section 901 of the Education Amendments of 1972 — the foundation of Title IX — to declare it a Title IX violation for any recipient of federal financial assistance to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity designated for women or girls. Sex would be defined solely based on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth. The bill covers all athletic programs and activities, including those conditioned on participation with an athletic team.
The bill would not prohibit males from training or practicing with women's or girls' athletic programs, provided no female is deprived of a roster spot, practice or competition opportunity, scholarship, school admission, or any other accompanying benefit. It would also direct the Comptroller General (head of the Government Accountability Office) to study what benefits women and girls derive from single-sex sports, document the adverse effects of male participation on girls, and report the findings to Congress.
Key provisions
- 1Would declare it a Title IX violation for any recipient of federal financial assistance to allow a person whose sex is male to participate in athletic programs or activities designated for women or girls.
- 2Would define sex, for Title IX athletics compliance purposes, solely based on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
- 3Would permit males to train or practice with women's or girls' athletic programs as long as no female is deprived of a roster spot, competition opportunity, scholarship, school admission, or other benefit.
- 4Would direct the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on benefits women and girls derive from single-sex sports and adverse effects of male participation on girls.
Who would be affected
Federally funded elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities that operate athletic programs, and the athletes who participate in them — particularly transgender girls and women who currently compete in female-designated sports. Female athletes who compete in those programs, as well as school athletic administrators and Title IX compliance officers, would also be directly affected.
Why it matters
Schools that receive any federal funding — the vast majority of public K-12 schools and colleges — would risk Title IX enforcement actions, including loss of federal funds, if they allow athletes identified as male at birth to compete in women's or girls' sports. Transgender female athletes would be barred from female competition rosters at those institutions nationwide.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. § 1681) (Sec. 2)
Adds new subsections making it a Title IX violation for federally funded programs to allow male-at-birth individuals to compete in women's or girls' athletics, and defining sex as reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
Agencies directed to act
How implementation would work
The bill is largely self-executing: the amended Title IX provision would take effect upon enactment, and existing Title IX enforcement machinery — including complaints filed with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and private lawsuits — would apply. Schools would need to update their athletic eligibility policies to comply. Separately, the Comptroller General would conduct a study and submit a report to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions documenting harms to girls from male participation in their sports.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
This bill generally prohibits 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. (Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs or activities, including in public elementary and secondary schools and in colleges and universities.) Under the bill, sex is based on an individual's reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
The bill does not prohibit male individuals from training or practicing with programs or activities for women or girls as long as such training or practice does not deprive any female of corresponding opportunities or benefits.
The Government Accountability Office must report on the benefits for women or girls in single-sex sports that would be lost as a result of male participation. In particular, the report must document the negative psychological, developmental, participatory, and sociological effects of male participation on girls.
Legislative subjects
Athletes; Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues; Education programs funding; School athletics; Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination