Independent Women’s Voice Supports Tennessee House Bill 3 and Accompanying Senate Bill 228 Requiring That Female Student Athletic Teams Only Include Members Who Are Biologically Female
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Independent Women’s Voice (IWV) supports the introduction of House Bill 3 in the Tennessee assembly to save girls’ and women’s sports and, further, urges state legislators to vote yes when the bill comes to the chamber floor. If passed, House Bill 3 would establish that, when it comes to athletics in the state of Tennessee, “a student’s gender for purposes of participation in a public middle school or high school interscholastic athletic activity or event must be determined by the student’s sex at the time of the student’s birth, as indicated on the student’s original birth certificate.”
State-level efforts to protect women’s sports are urgently needed. Recent executive action at the federal level by President Joe Biden requiring federally funded athletic programs to let athletes who were born male compete with and against women jeopardizes the future of female sports and may even place girls and women in physical danger.
“In the realm of athletics, biological sex differences matter,” said Hadley Heath Manning, IWV director of policy. “Without separate teams for women and men, men will dominate women in competitive sports where strength, size, or speed are relevant factors.”
IWV recently sent a letter urging all Tennessee state representatives to protect female sports by voting yes in support of House Bill 3 when it comes to the floor.
IWV’s sister organization, Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), has been speaking with women and girls across the country, collecting their stories about what being, raising, or watching female athletes means to them. They have also shared their concerns about Biden’s executive order and its implications for women’s sports.
Read more about Title IX and women’s sports from IWF HERE.
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Independent Women’s Voice fights for women by expanding support for policy solutions that aren’t just well intended, but actually enhance freedom, opportunities, and well-being.