HR7421-119

What This Bill Does

The bill amends title 36 provisions governing the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and national governing bodies. It requires amateur athletic programs to have eligibility criteria for Olympic, Paralympic, Pan-American, Parapan American, and other sanctioned national, regional, state, or local competitions that limit athlete participation to events corresponding to the athlete's sex. It defines sex as immutable biological classification as male or female, biologically determined, and defines male and female by reproductive function at conception. It also requires national sports organizations to continue sanctioning competitions for males only or females only if the competition otherwise meets sanctioning requirements and was sanctioned during the prior 10 years, and bars rescinding sanctioning or changing sex categories for already-sanctioned future events except to comply with the sex-eligibility rule.

Who Benefits and How

Female-only competition organizers and male-only competition organizers benefit from a statutory sanctioning protection for qualifying existing competitions. State athletic associations, sports organizations, and athletic programs seeking sex-separated competitions benefit from a federal eligibility rule tied to sanctioned amateur athletics. Congress and USOPC-governed programs receive explicit statutory definitions for sex, male, and female.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, national sports organizations, and regional, state, and local athletic programs must maintain sex-based eligibility criteria and continue sanctioning qualifying sex-separated competitions. Athletes who would seek to participate in a category not corresponding to the bill's definition of sex face exclusion from those competitions, and governing bodies lose discretion to alter certain sex categories for already-sanctioned events.

Key Provisions

• Requires covered amateur athletic programs to limit Olympic, Paralympic, Pan-American, Parapan American, and sanctioned competitions to events corresponding to an athlete's sex.
• Defines sex as immutable biological classification as male or female, and defines male and female by reproductive function at conception.
• Requires national sports organizations to keep sanctioning male-only or female-only competitions that meet sanctioning requirements and were sanctioned during the prior 10 years.
• Bars national sports organizations from rescinding sanctioning or changing sex categories for previously sanctioned future events except as needed to comply with the new sex-eligibility rule.