There is a new example almost every day: Male golfer Hailey Davidson has the opportunity to advance onto the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour; a male sprinter prepares for the women’s Paralympics; an Australian soccer team with five male players dominates the league, showing the absurdity of calling this a “women’s” competition. And with college sports seasons gearing back up, you can be sure the drumbeat will continue: More men will take roster sports meant for women and smash female athletes’ records. Fewer female athletes will get to chase their dreams.{/span}
Idaho, at least, is doing its part to stop this trend. We were proud to stand with Gov. Brad Little as he signed an executive order directing the Idaho State Department of Education to continue enforcing Title IX and Idaho state law as written — not as twisted by the Biden-Harris flagrantly illegal administrative rule.
Why was this necessary? President Biden and Vice President Harris’ administration has rewritten Title IX to gut protections for women and force schools to allow men into arenas meant for women. By conflating “sex” with “gender identity,” their new rules turn Title IX on its head so that anyone who claims to “identify” as a woman must be allowed into formerly single-sex spaces. Never mind the consequences for women’s safety, privacy and simple fairness. The Biden-Harris administration prioritizes their radical vision of “inclusion,” which means that women have to step aside for men.
We are grateful that states like Idaho are pushing back. We already fought to protect female athletes in Idaho, and are proud that, as a result, Idaho was the first state in the nation to pass a Fairness in Women’s Sports law, setting a standard that 26 states have now adopted. Gov. Little’s executive order makes clear that the administration’s federal overreach will not undermine state law — such as Idaho legislation inspired by IWV’s Women’s Bill of Rights — which clearly defines common sex-based words already used across state code.
We both know how important the opportunity to compete and succeed in sports is for women and girls. As a 12x NCAA All-American, 5x SEC Champion and record holder, and as a 15-year career NCAA Division I women’s basketball coach, we know the athletic competition provides lessons that last a lifetime. An Ernst and Young study found that fully 94% of female business executives participated in sports as girls — suggesting that participating in sports is a true training ground for business success as an adult.
All this progress is jeopardized by the illegal rewrite of Title IX. Title IX was written over 50 years ago to ensure that women and girls have their own sports category and that women’s sports are treated with equal respect. The results have been profound. An entire youth sports ecosystem for girls has blossomed, giving countless females the same chance to develop skills critical to achieving equality in the workplace with their male counterparts.
Common sense tells us why women and girls need their own league. As everyone knows, men and women are built differently, and those differences have lasting consequences that give men, on average, a 10% advantage across the board in strength, agility and stamina over women. Those advantages don’t go away because of hormone treatments. Pretending otherwise is sexist and simply unfair to female athletes.
States across the country and organizations, including the Independent Women’s Law Center, are pushing back against the Biden-Harris administration’s Title IX rule by filing lawsuits. Courts have granted preliminary injunctions for 26 states, including Idaho, led by the great work of Idaho’s Attorney General, Raúl Labrador. These injunctions are pausing enforcement of the final rule during the course of litigation, meaning that schools in these states or areas will not be required to comply with the rule.
This is a start, but we cannot stop fighting until women’s sports are protected — full stop. We thank Gov. Little for championing women’s rights under Title IX. We applaud President Trump for including the protection of women’s sports as one of his top priorities.
Unfortunately, Vice President Harris has stripped protections for female athletes and women across this country. We call on her to reverse this position. We cannot afford another four years of tearing women’s spaces and opportunities down; we cannot allow male athletes to rob young female athletes of their opportunity to compete and win. Vice President Harris, it’s time to answer: do you stand with female athletes and for Title IX? All Americans who care about women and common sense deserve to know.