Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe Sign Letter Saying Anti-Transgender Sports Bill 'Does Not Protect Women'

The WNBA and USWNT stars joined a group of professional, Olympic and Paralympic athletes who signed an open letter against the Republican-led bill

Sports power couple Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe were among 40 athletes who signed an open letter to Congress on Tuesday opposing an anti-transgender bill they say would not help women.

Bird, 42, and Rapinoe, 37, joined their fellow professional, Olympic and Paralympic athletes in voicing concern over a Republican-led bill in the House of Representatives that would ban transgender women athletes from competing in school sports leagues that align with their gender.

The GOP's controversial "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023" was introduced in February and has been a topic of debate among lawmakers and athletes alike. The bill would make it a Title IX violation for schools to allow transgender women to compete in women's sports, according to its outline.

If the bill passes through Congress, it would become part of the existing Title IX legislation, according to Sports Illustrated.

Related:Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird's Relationship Timeline

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"We believe that gender equity in sport is critical, which is why we urge policymakers to turn their attention and effort to the causes women athletes have been fighting for decades, including equal pay, an end to abuse and mistreatment, uneven implementation of Title IX and a lack of access and equity for girls of color and girls with disabilities, to name only a few," the letter, which was published via Athlete Ally, reads. "Our deepest hope is that transgender and intersex kids will never have to feel the isolation, exclusion and othering that H.R. 734 is seeking to enshrine into law."

The letter says that "if this bill passes, transgender and intersex girls and women throughout the country will be forced to sit on the sidelines, away from their peers and their communities."

"Furthermore, the policing of who can and cannot play school sports will very likely lead to the policing of the bodies of all girls, including cisgender girls," the letter adds. "This will deter girls from participating in sports and create additional barriers."

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Others who signed the letter include USWNT captain Becky Sauerbrunn, former USWNT midfielder Lori Lindsey and boxer Patricio Manuel, who is the first transgender man in U.S. history to compete professionally in his sport..

"I'm proud to have signed onto this open letter in support of trans & intersex youth and against HR734," Lindsey, 43, and several other athletes who signed the letter, tweeted. "Every child deserves the right to play the sport they love."

Rapinoe previously spoke out against the bill last month, tweeting that "politicians in DC are claiming to 'protect women's sports' by pushing a trans & intersex sports ban." The two-time World Cup winner wrote that "women's sports need protection from unequal pay, sexual abuse & lack of resources, NOT from trans kids."

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