On Monday, March 3, Democrats in the US Senate blocked a Republican-led bill seeking to ban trans athletes from competing in women’s sports. The bill is part of a wider attempt by Republicans to roll back trans rights in the US.

Titled Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, the bill in question sought to rewrite federal anti-discrimination protections by defining sex in athletics as exclusively based on “reproductive biology and genetics at birth”. If passed, the bill would effectively prohibit trans athletes from participating in women’t sports in federally funded schools or colleges.

The bill narrowly passed in the House earlier in January, with two Democrats joining the Republican majority in voting in favour.

In the US Senate, the bill seeking to ban trans athletes from women’s sport was blocked by a cloture vote, a procedural motion that requires at least 60 votes to move forward. With a 51-45 final vote, Republicans failed to progress the bill further.

Speaking about the vote, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who co-sponsored the bill, said: “This is the third time that I’ve had a vote on this bill. The other two times have failed because we have had almost zero Democrats help to support women and girls in sports.”

The bill’s defeat comes amid a broader effort by Republicans to attack trans rights all over the country. Last month, Trump signed an executive order banning trans athletes from participating in women’s sports. Titled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’, the order will cut off federal funding for any school that allows trans women or girls to compete in female sporting competitions.

Commenting on the bill’s failure to pass in the US Senate, American Civil Liberties Union’s national director of policy and government affairs, Mike Zamore, said: “As anyone paying attention to the actions of the Trump administration can tell you, this bill is simply one part of a sweeping effort to push transgender people out of public life altogether.

“We need more attention on actually ensuring fair and equal opportunity for all girls and women, not inflicting invasive and humiliating checks and bullying on kids to serve adults’ political purposes.”

“We are thankful to the senators who rejected this ugly effort to codify discrimination within a historic civil rights law and we will always fight for the freedom of all young people to be themselves at school, including on the playing field,” Zamore concluded.