Pa. House Democrats avoid a vote on a controversial bill to ban transgender students from girls’ sports

House Democrats successfully avoided a vote on a controversial bill to prohibit transgender students from participating in girls’ sports, using a rare legislative action to move the bill to another committee and delay a GOP effort to force a vote on the bill.

House Republicans tried to advance the bill on Monday after it stalled in the Democratic-controlled chamber for more than two months, following its bipartisan passage in the state Senate. The effort follows nationwide pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration to restrict transgender students from playing women and girls’ sports.

The bill would mandate schools designate who can compete in a sport by biological sex “as determined by anatomy and genetics,” rather than gender identity, effectively banning transgender women or girls from school sports at Pennsylvania public schools in grades K-12, as well as publicly funded colleges. It would also cover private schools whose sports teams compete with public schools.

Rep. Barbara Gleim (R., Cumberland) submitted a resolution to discharge the bill from the state House Education committee, where it has sat for more than two months without getting called up for a vote on Monday. The legislative maneuver, which is infrequently used, allows lawmakers to petition to force a floor vote on a bill that has languished in committee for more than 15 legislative session days if they garner at least 25 signatures.

More than 70 Republicans signed onto the resolution to force a floor vote on the bill, formally known as the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.”

But Democrats met Republicans’ legislative maneuvering with their own ploy.

Rep. Peter Schweyer (D., Lehigh), who chairs the House education committee, called a meeting on Tuesday in which the Democratic-majority voted to re-refer the bill to the health committee, avoiding a floor vote on the politically divisive issue for Democrats.

During the heated meeting, Republicans criticized the move as an attempt to stall the bill and avoid debate. No Democrats, aside from Schweyer, spoke, and Schweyer did not comment directly on the bill.

Rep. John Schlegel (R., Lebanon) asked Schweyer why Democrats decided to try to move the bill to the health committee.

Schweyer answered he believed the health committee to be a “more appropriate place to consider this legislation.” Rep. Stephenie Scialabba (R., Butler) criticized his response as a “de facto admission that there is no purpose beyond strategic manipulation of rules.”

In a statement to The Inquirer, Schweyer criticized the bill, arguing it “doesn’t belong in a committee working for better schools for every kid.”

He said the bill “targets any at-risk community, including our LGBTQIA+ neighbors” and could lead to bullying of students “already facing serious and severe bullying.”

The committee voted 14-12 along party lines to refer the bill to the Health Committee. This means Republicans cannot issue another discharge resolution until another 15 session days have passed.

After the meeting, Gleim told reporters she wasn’t surprised by the move. She plans to reintroduce the discharge petition in another 15 legislative days, per House rules.

Rep. Martina White (R., Philadelphia), said in an interview earlier Tuesday she signed onto the resolution to force a floor vote on the bill, because women “deserve to know where their legislators stand” on the issue.

She argued barring transgender women from school sports would level the playing field for female athletes, citing the example of Lia Thomas, a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who in 2022 became first transgender person to win an NCAA Division 1 title.

Under pressure from the Trump administration, Penn last week announced it will issue personal apologies to female swimmers they say were “disadvantaged” by Thomas. Soon after the university agreed to the administration’s demands, $175 million in withheld federal funding was released

White, a former student athlete herself, said she “couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like to have to compete against a biological male.”

In addition to issuing apologies, Penn said its athletics policies will adhere to the definitions of “sex,” “male,” and “female” as defined in President Donald Trump’s January executive order, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

The state’s interscholastic athletics governing body, PIAA, in February changed its policy to comply with Trump’s executive order, barring transgender students from joining girls’ sports teams.

The Philadelphia School District, however, has defied the policy change, continuing to allow transgender girls in school sports. The city was among the first in the nation to establish policies specifically protecting transgender students.

Former Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, vetoed similar legislation in 2022 passed by a GOP-controlled legislature.

Vincent DiFonzo is an intern for the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association and can be reached at [email protected].