400+ Civil Rights Groups Reject Anti-Trans Legislation, Demand Congress Vote NO on H.R. 28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mattie Goldman, [email protected]

WASHINGTON — The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, along with 405 national and local civil rights, education, and gender justice organizations, wrote to members of Congress urging them to reject H.R. 28. The so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 is the latest in a spate of harmful bills at the national and local levels that are an attack on transgender, nonbinary, and intersex students. The letter urges members to reject this bill because it would harm women and girls and undermine civil rights for all students. 

The letter states: “This discriminatory proposal seeks to exclude transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people from athletics programs in schools. Although the authors of the legislation represent themselves as serving the interests of cisgender girls and women, this legislation does not address the longstanding barriers all girls and women have faced in their pursuit of athletics. Instead of providing for equal facilities, equipment, and travel, or any other strategy that women athletes have been pushing for for decades, the bill cynically veils an attack on transgender people as a question of athletics policy.”

“We are fortunate that transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people are present in our community, and we fully embrace them as members of our community. As organizations that care deeply about ending sex-based discrimination and ensuring equal educational opportunities, we support laws and policies that protect transgender people from discrimination, including full and equal participation in sports, access to gender-affirming care, access to school facilities, and access to inclusive curriculum. We firmly believe that an attack on transgender youth is an attack on civil rights.”

The full text of the letter is available here. The Leadership Conference will include a vote on passage of H.R. 28 in our voting record for the 119th Congress.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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