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The Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate Republicans’ political action committee, is using a series of ads to hammer Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, for supporting transgender people.
"My granddaughters have worked hard to excel in sports," a man identified as Scott F. from Concord, Ohio, says in one ad, over images from a California junior college of a transgender woman basketball player. "It's tough enough, so the idea that Sherrod Brown allowed transgender biological men to compete in girls’ sports, it’s unfair and dangerous." We identified the speaker in the ad as a member of the Riverside, Ohio, school board.
The ad cited Brown’s 2021 and 2024 votes against failed amendments to two broad funding bills as evidence for the claim.
But the Senate Leadership Fund ad mischaracterizes Brown’s votes. The amendments would have stripped federal funding from schools and colleges that allowed transgender girls and women to compete in sports matching their gender identity. They did not dictate athletic eligibility. Federal law rarely dictates who is eligible for specific sports.
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Senate Leadership Fund Communications Director Torunn Sinclair said the amendments from Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., hinged school funding on whether transgender women were allowed to compete in sports matching their gender identity.
"You're funding something, which is a vote to allow something to happen," Sinclair said in an email.
Ohio and 25 other states have laws or regulations barring transgender athletes from competing in sports matching their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that focuses on LGBTQ+ rights and voting access.
Brown’s votes
The Senate Leadership Fund ad cites Brown’s votes on March 6, 2021, and March 22, 2024, as evidence that Brown, who generally supports LGBTQ+ rights, voted to allow transgender athletes in girls’ sports.
Brown spokesperson Matt Keyes described both votes as "poison pill" amendments — designed to render legislation ineffective — to broader funding bills. Tuberville’s amendments were to the 2021 American Rescue Plan and a 2024 bill funding multiple federal departments. Both failed along party lines.
Keyes said Brown supports transgender rights, but Brown’s vote also was to preserve Ohio school funding.
Brown "believes there should be a fair process in place for athletics and will always fight to make sure Ohio schools have the funding they need," Keyes said.
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The U.S. Senate does not govern sports eligibility
U.S. high school sports are decentralized; each state typically makes its own rules about who can participate. Federal law addresses compensation, amateur status, antitrust or other civil issues rather than who is, or is not, allowed to participate.
Governing bodies, such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, determine who is allowed to participate in specific competitions.
Some federal laws, such as Title IX, prohibit sex-based discrimination for programs receiving federal funding, which includes nearly all public schools, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. President Joe Biden unveiled new rules in April that cover gender identity under Title IX, though the rules did not specifically address the issue of transgender athletes in sports.
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Our ruling
The Senate Leadership Fund said Brown "voted to allow transgender biological men to compete in girls’ sports."
Brown did not vote to allow this. He voted against two amendments to much broader spending bills that would have stripped funding from schools that allowed transgender athletes to compete in sports matching their gender identity. The amendments did not pertain to athletic eligibility.
We rate the claim False.
Our Sources:
- Senate Leadership Fund, YouTube, "Granddad," Sept. 24, 2024
- USA Today, Gabrielle Ludwi photo gallery, Dec. 4, 2012
- PolitiFact, "Tuberville’s claim that Olympics decided ‘men can box women’ misses the mark," March 1, 2024
- Snopes, "Olympic Boxer Imane Khelif Is Neither Trans Nor Male," Aug. 5, 2024
- FactCheck.org, "Trump, Social Media Posts Mislead on Olympic Woman Boxer," Aug. 9, 2024
- Gallup, "More Say Birth Gender Should Dictate Sports Participation," June 12, 2023
- The Washington Post, Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement and the Philip Merrill College of Journalism poll, May 17, 2022
- Associated Press, "Ohio bans gender-affirming care and restricts transgender athletes despite GOP governor's veto," Jan. 24, 2024
- Movement Advancement Project, Bans on Transgender Youth Participation in Sports, accessed Oct. 8, 2024
- National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics transgender athlete policy, April 8, 2024
- WKYC, "Ad falsely claims Sherrod Brown voted to let 'biological men participate in women's sports'," Sept. 17, 2024
- Fox News, "Senate Leadership Fund, Ohio NBC affiliate spar over Sen. Sherrod Brown 'too liberal for Ohio' fact-check," Sept. 27, 2024
- NCAA, Student-athlete eligibility web page, accessed Oct. 7, 2024
- Ohio High School Athletic Association athlete eligibility web page, accessed, Oct. 7, 2024
- WCMH, "OHSAA modifies student policy as Ohio’s trans athlete ban takes effect," Aug. 8, 2024
- Ohio High School Athletic Association, "OHSAA 101," accessed Oct. 8, 2024
- Government Accountability Office, "Title IX and High School Sports: Facts and Findings," Feb. 6, 2019
- PolitiFact, "Here’s how new Title IX regulations could affect LGBTQ+ students," April 26, 2024
- Senate.gov, S.Amdt. 1386 to S.Amdt. 891 to H.R. 1319 vote, March 6, 2021
- Congress.gov, S.Amdt. 1781 to H.R. 2882 text, March 23, 2024
- Ohio High School Athletic Association transgender student policy, accessed Oct. 7, 2024
- Sherrod Brown campaign spokesperson Matt Keyes, email exchange, Sept. 30, 2024
- Senate Leadership Fund communications director Torunn Sinclair, email exchange, Sept. 30, 2024