House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks as GOP women members hold an event before the vote to prohibit transgender women and girls from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The Republican-led House was expected to vote Thursday to bar schools and colleges that receive federal money from allowing transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male from competing on girls or women’s sports teams or athletic events. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House has passed a bill that would bar federally supported schools and colleges from allowing transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male from competing on girls or women’s sports teams. The legislation is unlikely to advance further because the Democratic-led Senate will not support it and the White House said President Joe Biden would veto it. The House action comes as at least 20 other states have imposed similar limits on trans athletes at the K-12 or collegiate level. Supporters say their effort is designed to protect fair competition in sports. Democrats criticized the effort as targeting a vulnerable group of young people for political gain.