Senate Dems block legislation that would ban men from women’s sports

Senate Democrats voted Saturday against a Republican-backed Amendment to the SAVE Act that would have barred transgender-identifying biological males from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.

The Senate voted 49-41, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance the amendment. The proposal, sponsored by Tommy Tuberville and Marsha Blackburn, failed along party lines.

The amendment would have prohibited federally funded education programs from allowing athletic programs to allow transgender-identifying biological men to compete with their so-called gender identity rather than their biological sex.

“This is the fourth time that I’ve had this bill on the floor,” Tuberville said. “I’ll continue to try until I’m gone. Every time that we’ve voted on this, I have not gone one single Democrat to vote for it."

The amendment was one of several sought by Republicans to add to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a voting requirement bill that would require Americans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot. President Donald Trump has called on Republicans to add other provisions, which include no-excuse mail-in balloting as well as a ban on sex change operations for minors.

Despite Democrats voting against it, no Democratic senator spoke on the floor in opposition to the amendment prior to the vote, a report by The Hill noted. Tuberville, meanwhile, argued on the floor that it is unfair for young girls and women to compete against men who claim to be female.

“How about the trophies and awards that are stolen from young girls and ladies that work all their life to win a game or a sport … and they lose to somebody that’s much more physical, bigger, stronger and faster?” Tuberville said.