Congress this week passed a bill banning transgender student athletes from competing in women's and girls sports at schools by amending title nine so that sex is, quote, recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth.

The legislation now heads for a vote in the Senate, and comes as a growing number of states have passed similar laws banning trans athletes from participating in sports at K through 12 schools and colleges.

And more Democrats have signaled a willingness to shift on the issue following president elect Donald Trump's election.

Advocates in new Jersey say those concerns were reinforced after recent comments surfaced from state Senator Paul Sarlo, a top Democrat who in an interview last month stated males shouldn't be participating in women's sports at any level.

As senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports, it is raising high concerns from some activists.

Male should not be participating in women's sports, whether it's at the rec level, the high school level or the collegiate level period at the end.

Senator Paul Sarlo made that comment during an interview recently addressing the issue of transgender athletes playing in women's sports.

It's drawn a mix of reaction support from Republican colleagues in the Senate.

I was pleasantly surprised that he said so, and dismay from LGBTQ advocates like 80 Miller, a transgender woman who competes in roller derby.

Any type of discrimination is not okay.

It's just not.

It's not the law.

It's not the policies of, you know, the new Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.

It's not in line with the new Jersey law against discrimination.

It's been the law in new Jersey since 2009.

But federally, transgender women in sports have been a tennis ball bouncing back and forth between administrations that have granted rights, then taken them away.

It goes back to title nine, the original civil rights bill prohibiting sex based discrimination in any school or education program that receives federal funding.

That law was originally written to protect women and employment, education, and sports.

The Obama and Biden administration's added LGBTQ people to it through Department of Education guidance and executive order.

The Trump administration rolled it back since oh nine.

This policy has been in place with zero complaints of any kind.

And so what's changed in early 2025?

The only thing that's changed is the politics and the incoming Trump administration.

And a new bill that passed the House on Tuesday called the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

It would amend title nine to recognize a person's sex as based solely on a person's gender at birth, and would mean any school that allows a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that's designed for women or girls, would risk losing federal funding.

Republican Senator Mike Testa introduced a similar bill in new Jersey, and is hoping to gain support from Senate Budget Committee Chair Paul Sarlo.

Title nine was to create a level playing field for females in their chosen sport, and allowing biological males to compete against biological females.

It's just simply unfair.

My party is consistently accused of not following the science, and in this case, we absolutely want to follow the science and the most basic building block of human beings is DNA.

And we want to follow the DNA, whether you are a biological male or a biological female.

What do you say to folks who say that someone who is born biologically has a male has an unfair advantage, especially in a competitive sport?

Perhaps a sport that's one on one against someone who's born a female.

You're trying to make this argument about, like, you know, biology, right?

Which studies have shown that, generally speaking, trans people on net don't necessarily have a, any kind of like physical advantage when it comes to a lot of different, sports.

80 Miller, referring to this report released by Alliance, citing evidence that trans women who've undergone testosterone suppression have no clear biological advantages over cis women in elite sports.

And if they transitioned before puberty, there are no biological differences at all.

But Testa points to the controversy around Riley Gaines, who became an outspoken anti-trans activist after she tied for fifth place with Lia Thomas, a trans athlete who had competed in college as a male and really had an unfair result in the NCAA.

Now, here is a prime scholarship athlete at the height of her sport, the pinnacle of, you know, her physical prowess, who should be getting the gold medal in her college meets and she's losing to a biological male.

Riley Gaines went on to advocate for the trans athlete ban that passed the House, but has a much harder time ever getting out of the Senate.

Around the country, countless women's groups, including the Women's Sports Foundation, founded by tennis player Billie Jean King, support the inclusion of transgender athletes in sports and say title nine protects them from discrimination.

We have teenagers that are affirming themselves, and to be trans in this climate right now is so incredibly difficult, and so it's a basic human right, because I have heard story after story of transgender youth who are just in utter despair.

And so we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to protect our youth, regardless of how they're there, just because of their gender again.

We reached out to Senator Sarlo for his thoughts and whether he would support Senator Tester's bill.

He was not available.

But with the second Trump administration about to begin, it's clear this match is just heating up.

For NJ Spotlight News I'm Joanna Gagis.