Rep. Lee ‘does not support’ trans athletes in girls’ sports, despite voting against ban
Nevada Rep. Susie Lee voted with her party against a bill that would ban transgender girls and women from competing in school sports, but then issued a statement saying she opposes trans athletes competing in girls’ sports.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 in a 218-106 vote mostly on party lines on Tuesday.
The legislation, which first passed the House in 2023 but failed in the then-Democrat-controlled Senate, would prevent schools from allowing “biological males” to compete in school athletic programs for women or girls “by stating that sex in an athletic competition must be defined by genetics at birth, and withholding federal funding from schools that facilitate athletic programs where biological men compete against biological women,” according to a statement from Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
Lee joined her fellow Nevada Democrats Dina Titus and Steven Horsford in voting against it, calling it “government overreach at its finest,” but she said in a statement that as a former high school and college swimmer, she does not support transgender athletes competing in girls’ and women’s sports “when fairness or safety is compromised.”
Lee said that while she believes governing athletic bodies like the NCAA have been slow and inconsistent with updating their policies, she does not think it is the role of Congress to institute a nationwide ban for all ages, calling it “government overreach” that exposes girls and women to genital exams and would lead to attacks based on personal appearance.
“This is an extremely complicated issue that requires very serious deliberation and updated rulemaking by appropriate governing athletic bodies to address the portion of athletics where fairness or safety is an issue,” Lee said in the statement.
In a video posted on X, Horsford said the bill should be called the “predator empowerment act” and that under the bill, girls as young as 4 years old could face physical inspections of their private parts by adult strangers.
“These kinds of experiences could be humiliating,” he said. “They could scar a child for life.”
Any student involved in school sports could have their gender questioned for “appalling or vindictive reasons,” Horsford said, such as an opposing team upset that they lost, or a teammate that didn’t make the cut.
He said NCAA and state authorities in Nevada are better equipped to deal with fairness and safety in sports than politicians in D.C.
“As a parent, I would never allow my children to be subjected to this harmful behavior, and as a public servant for the 4th Congressional District, I won’t let it happen to yours either,” he said.
Titus echoed similar sentiments, calling it an invasion of privacy.
“This bill would allow anyone – a coach, a parent, or a competitor – to label a student-athlete transgender and force them to undergo an interrogation about their bodies and an invasive physical exam,” she said in a statement.
Proponents of the bill say the House has delivered on its promise to protect women’s sports.
“The passage of H.R. 28 is a declaration that the achievements and opportunities our daughters, sisters, and future champions have earned will not be compromised,” said Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger in a statement. “For over fifty years, Title IX has opened doors for millions of young women. Now, we’re reinforcing those foundations with iron-clad protections that ensure fair competition remains truly fair.”
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.