WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former University of Kentucky All-American swimmer turned women’s sports advocate, Riley Gaines, slammed President Joe Biden’s promise this week that he would veto a bill – if it is passed in the House and Senate – that would mandate that biological males who identify as female could not participate in women’s sports.
The White House released a statement on Monday saying that it “strongly opposes” the Republican-authored H.R. 734 – also known as the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act – saying that it would “deny access to sports for many families by establishing an absolute ban on transgender students.” It also called the bill “discriminatory” and “unnecessary.”
The White House’s response prompted Gaines to criticize Biden’s promised veto during an interview on Monday with Fox News.
“The President has declared that science, truth, and common sense no longer matter. In opposing this bill, President Biden is catering to a radical minority at the expense of women, who are 51 percent of the population,” she said. “Equal opportunity, privacy, and safety in our sports shouldn’t be controversial. The women who once advocated for Title IX should be outraged as this goes against everything they fought for. Female athletes of all ages, levels, and sports deserve better.”
H.R. 734 is expected to be voted on by the House of Representatives at some point this week. From there it would go to the Senate, and if lawmakers pass it there as well it would go to the desk of President Biden, who has vowed to use his veto power to prevent it from becoming law.
The bill states that the sex of an athlete is solely be based upon their “reproductive biology and genetics at birth” and would not allow educational institutions that receive Title IX funding from the federal government to “permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designed for women or girls.”
Transgender athletes would be allowed to participate in female athletic programs, but only if doing so would not deprive a biological female athlete of a spot.
Democrats have stated that they will oppose the bill.
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