With the stroke of a pen, President Trump did more for women’s rights than any other politician in decades. His executive order banning men from women’s sports sent a signal not just to athletic programs in the U.S. but across the world that gender ideology will no longer be allowed to rob women of their opportunities, safety, and right to privacy.

But like all executive orders, this action can be undone as soon as another president takes office, one who believes in the radical and false idea that the sexes are interchangeable. That’s why it is now incumbent on the Senate to take up and pass S.9, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. If passed, the bill would codify Title IX, which says that any educational institution receiving federal funds must maintain separate athletic and educational opportunities for women (i.e. no boys in girls’ sports allowed). The executive order was a significant step in the right direction but only Congress can make the ban on men playing on women’s sports teams the permanent law of the land.

While the House of Representatives passed this bill by a slim majority a couple of weeks ago, Senate rules require a 60 votes threshold to get cloture before proceeding to the final vote that requires a simple majority. Because Republicans hold just 53 seats in the Senate, this means that several Democrats will have to vote with their colleagues from across the aisle in order for it to pass cloture. The talk on Capitol Hill is that this is the reason that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) has yet to bring up the bill – the likelihood that it will not get the requisite votes.

That fear should not prevent the nation’s elected representatives from voting on an issue about which the overwhelming majority of Americans care deeply. Polling consistently shows that the American people want sex-segregated spaces – bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams included. Concerned Women for America’s post-election exit polling showed that 70% of voters saw “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls’ and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls’ and women’s bathrooms” as influential to their vote. A more recent poll from the New York Times found the vast majority of Americans, including Democrats, believe that trans-identifying male athletes should not be permitted to compete in women’s sports.

It is the duty of Congress to do the will of the people, and the people want to stop pretending that biological reality does not exist.

A vote on S.9 would also present an opportunity to show just how radical and out of touch Senate Democrats are. At least a third of the Senators are up for reelection in 2026, and a majority of those happen to be Democrats. Making them vote against a wildly popular bill would damage the reelection efforts of anyone who still supports gender ideology. It would force them to answer questions on the campaign trail about why they do not care about protecting the safety and integrity of women and young girls. But there is also the chance that some may, in fact, vote with their Republican peers – two Democrat members of the House of Representatives made that choice when it came to floor of that chamber. This issue is beyond partisan politics, so every senator from both sides of the aisle should stand up for women’s safety and privacy.

While Congress and the Executive can control entities that receive federal dollars, they do not have the same direct influence over private organizations, such as the NCAA and the smaller governing bodies for individual sports associations. While the NCAA has announced that they will change their own transgender policy to align with the EO, there is much work to be done to make sure the injustices that have been committed are corrected and that this never happens again under any administration. A vote on S.9 will increase the pressure to make these changes permanent so that all institutions get in line with what the American people, the President, and Congress all agree on – women’s sports are for women only.

The Senate should not delay a vote on S.9. The time to end the war on women’s sports is now. Use our action center to contact your Senator and urge them to vote for S.9.