Two Democratic Senate hopefuls are doubling down on support for the Equality Act, a controversial measure that would elevate “gender identity” to protected status under federal civil rights law and effectively end women’s sports.
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent on the 2026 map, and Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens, who is seeking her party’s nomination for an open Senate seat, are co-sponsors of the bill, which critics say would force schools and sports leagues to allow biological males to compete against women and girls. The legislation, reintroduced last month by congressional Democrats, would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes—sweeping language that has triggered alarm among parents, athletes, and women’s rights advocates nationwide.
Polls suggest the political risk is real, writes The Daily Caller. In Georgia, where Republican Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed the Riley Gaines Act to preserve sex-based protections in athletics, a January survey found 73% of voters support banning transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports. Even among Democrats, resistance is growing: a New York Times poll that same month found nearly 70% of Democratic-leaning voters opposed letting biological males into women’s competitions.
Yet Ossoff and Stevens have embraced the Equality Act as a legislative priority. Stevens, locked in a competitive primary in a state Trump carried in 2024, cheered the bill’s reintroduction on social media and has previously denounced bans on transgender athletes as “hateful.” Ossoff, meanwhile, joined fellow Democrats in blocking the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act during a March Senate vote—an action that drew swift backlash from Republican lawmakers and conservative groups.
In Michigan, leading GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers accused Stevens of promoting “radical, unsafe policies” that put girls at risk. In Georgia, Rep. Buddy Carter, an early 2026 Senate contender, blasted Ossoff’s record as “out of step with Georgia families.” The Senate Leadership Fund, a powerful Republican-aligned super PAC, has already launched TV spots slamming Ossoff’s stance during high-profile broadcasts like the Masters Tournament and Final Four, signaling the issue will remain central to the GOP’s midterm messaging.
That both candidates remain aligned with the Democratic platform shows how far from the mainstream the party has become. The Equality Act currently boasts 47 Senate and 214 House Democratic co-sponsors.
Recent polling has shown that nearly 80 percent of the country does not believe biological men should be playing in women’s sports.
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This goes far beyond the issue of cheating in sports. Boys & men in women’s restrooms and locker rooms is a license to rape vulnerable women. Not just potentially, “trans girls” have raped actual girls in school bathrooms.