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The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act is set to get a vote in the U.S. Senate on Monday. The bill would establish a stronger federal precedent to keep trans athletes out of women’s and girls’ sports as multiple states defy President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to address the issue.
But despite a Republican majority in the Senate, the bill will still need support from seven Democrats in order to beat the filibuster and reach the president’s desk. In the House of Representatives, all but two Democrats voted against the bill.
For women athletes across the country who have been impacted by trans inclusion, they are holding out hope that more Democratic senators will break from the party’s general stance.
Former San Jose State University volleyball player Brooke Slusser, who was at the center of a widely-publicized national controversy in the fall after suing her school, conference and the NCAA citing her experience with a trans teammate, is asking those Democrats to consider the well-being of their daughters and other young female athletes across the country.
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San Jose State Spartans trans player Blaire Fleming, left, and teammate Brooke Slusser. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
“Do they have kids? Would they ever want their daughter having a man swinging a crazy ball straight at their face when they’re a child? Maybe even unknowingly, and then they can never play sports again,” Slusser told Fox News Digital of her message to those Democrats. “How can you think of that and still want to fight for something that could potentially injure and end a young athlete’s career? And overall, that it’s just not fair. I feel like I could go on and on to them about it. I just don’t see how they could support it.”
Slusser’s lawsuits allege she was made to share changing and sleeping spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming during their first season together in 2023. After months of speaking out against trans inclusion and garnering national media attention, Slusser recently made the decision to leave SJSU’s campus after facing alleged threats and harassment from other students over her stance.
Still, she doesn’t regret any of it due to her activism helping to inspire legislative changes, including potentially the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
Meanwhile, fellow women’s athletes Payton McNabb and Selina Soule went to the White House on Thursday to meet with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondie and several other state attorneys general across the nation to share their stories and to lobby for the national banishment of trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
Soule is a former high school track and field athlete and four-time National Qualifier who was forced out of a regional championship due to two trans athletes taking women’s spots and who lost out on the chance to earn attention from college scouts and potential scholarships because of those snubs. It was a consequential turning point in her life that set her on the path to activism; she first started speaking out against trans inclusion to local media in 2018.
Selina Soule is a former high school track and field athlete and four-time National Qualifier who was forced out of a regional championship due to trans athletes taking women’s spots.
“I would tell all of those senators that are unsure about this bill to think about your daughters, think about your nieces and granddaughters. Would you want them to be forced into a situation where they have to compete against someone who is physically superior to them? Would you be okay with them sharing a bathroom, changing next to a man, sharing a bed with a man if they didn’t want to?” Soule asked.
“If you say no to any of that, then vote for this bill to protect women and girls.”
McNabb, a former volleyball player who received a spike to the head from a transgender player when she was 17 that caused brain trauma and a neck injury, wants to remind the Democrats that most Americans, including the majority of their own voters, oppose trans inclusion in girls’ and women’s sports, according to various data.
“The time is now to vote and to stand up for women and these basic rights that they deserve, because the majority of America agrees with this, and a lot of Democrats agree with this as well, but I don’t understand why they won’t vote on it, they try to push this agenda so hard,” McNabb said. “Think about your daughters, think about every woman in your life, because this affects them and their vote matters, and they need to vote for them.”
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Payton McNabb was severely injured after being struck in the head and neck by a spike from a transgender-identifying male on the opposing volleyball team.
McNabb and Soule hope that their conversations with the state attorneys general on Thursday will ultimately result in conversations between those attorneys general and Democratic senators in their states, and get the bill enough votes to make it to Trump’s desk.
Prominent Republican leader Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., does expect the bill to get some bipartisan support, she previously told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
“I would expect there would be, I would hope there would be,” she said.
“Many of my friends who are Democrats will tell you that they think Title IX is a thing and to have biological males competing against women is inappropriate, and they want opportunities for their daughters or nieces or granddaughters, and it’s frustrating to them when they hear about or witness a transgender male playing in a women’s or girls’ league.”
A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, do not think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports.
Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports. Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.
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