With polls showing Americans overwhelmingly support protecting girls’ sports from male athletes, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 with the unanimous backing of the GOP. And the nearly unanimous opposition of Democrats, including the two representing New Hampshire.
According to GOP supporters, the bill establishes clear definitions for sports participation based on biological sex at birth and prohibits federal funding for schools or athletic programs that allow biological males to compete in female categories. It passed 2018 to 206 with just two Democrats voting yes and one voting present.
Reps. Maggie Goodlander and Chris Pappas were no votes. Pappas also voted against it when it came to the House floor last April.
The Democratic Party’s extreme stance on transgender issues — including Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for taxpayer-funded sex change surgery for illegal immigrants in prison — is widely believed to have contributed to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and the GOP’s overall success in last November’s election.
“Democrats will not soon forget the punchline in anti-transgender Trump ads that became ubiquitous by Election Day,” the AP reported. “‘Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you.’”
“Week by week when that ad hit and stuck and we didn’t respond, I think that was the beginning of the end,” former Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said of the Democrats’ defeat.
And after narrowly holding his seat in November’s election, incumbent Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) said his party has a problem.
“I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports,” he said just days after the election, adding: “Democrats should be saying this.”
Polls show voters are with the House GOP on this issue.
An NHJournal poll in May 2024 found that nearly 60 percent of Granite Staters support girls-only sports teams, while just 18 percent back the position of Democratic legislators that biological males should be allowed to compete on girls’ teams.
And 69 percent of Americans told Gallup last year that “transgender athletes should only be allowed to compete on sports teams that conform with their birth gender.”
Parents across the U.S., as well as in New Hampshire, have shown up at school board meetings to oppose allowing biological males to compete against their daughters, some fearing for their safety. And there have been high-profile cases of girls injured by male athletes while competing in high school sports.
One injury was caught on camera during a girls’ basketball game in Massachusetts between Lowell Collegiate Charter School and KIPP Academy of Lynn last year. The video shows a bearded 6-foot-tall male KIPP Academy player, who reportedly identifies as female, ragdolling a female LCCS player as both competed for a rebound.
That was only one of three girls the player managed to injure before LCCS forfeited the game.
The game itself did not even reach the second half.
Last year, New Hampshire became
As a result, half of all states, including New Hampshire, have passed legislation protecting girls’ sports from biological male athletes.
While some Democrats, like Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) have urged the party to moderate its stance on transgender issues, Goodlander told WMUR in a post-election interview that she is maintaining her support for allowing sex change operations for minor children. She does not support laws that would restrict the practice.
“I’m not a medical professional, and this is a decision that really resides with doctors and families and patients,” Goodlander said. “And this is not a judgment that I’m equipped to make, or, frankly, any politician should be making.”
During an interview on the NHJournal podcast, Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) said she supports the legislation.
“First of all, I’m glad they took that vote in Washington, because otherwise you’re completely undermining Title IX. I look at that vote as standing up for Title IX and the rights of women to play sports and the great expansion of women in sports.
“Having had a daughter who played three varsity sports, I fully believe that it should be biological women competing against women,” Ayotte said.
