PHILADELPHIA, PA — On Sunday, Independent Women’s Voice (IWV) hosted a live studio-audience Stand With Women: Equality Is Not A Game program before 400 Pennsylvanians and millions tuning in to the livestream. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Hawaii congresswoman, 2020 presidential candidate, and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, and Riley Gaines, an Independent Women’s Voice ambassador, host of “Gaines for Girls” on OutKick, and author of Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind, led the event, which focused on the problems that women and girls face in their own sports today, the lack of leadership to protect women’s equal opportunities, and the need for strong leaders who will stand with women and advance measures to ensure future generations of girls don’t suffer.
The livestream of the full event can be viewed here.
Photos can be downloaded here [credit: Independent Women’s Voice].
The Stand With Women program featured panel discussions with thought leaders, advocates, and athletes who are speaking up for women’s sports and calling on others to stand with them, including Meghan McCain, host of “Citizen McCain” and former co-host of The View; Sage Steele, host of “The Sage Steele Show” and former ESPN broadcaster; Royce Gracie, UFC Hall of Famer; Frank Murphy, former NFL player and the founder and CEO of the Mentoring with Purpose Charity for athletes and youth; and other professional athletes and advocates.
Independent Women’s Voice Ambassadors Paula Scanlan, former swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania; Payton McNabb, former high school volleyball player whose athlete career came to an end after suffering permanent injuries caused by a male on the opposing women’s squad; former head women’s lacrosse coach at Oberlin College Kim Russell; women’s volleyball team captain at the University of Nevada Reno Sia Liilii; professional golfer Lauren Miller; and Cynthia Monteleone, Team USA Master Track athlete and world champion, were honored during the grand finale as Stand With Women Champions — those who have been directly affected by and courageously stood up against the male takeover of women’s sports.
The event highlighted the importance of objective reality and the need to recognize the innate differences between men and women. Speakers told the studio audience that those in public office and positions of leadership must recognize what’s at stake and take action to preserve sex-based rights and equality for women in America.
During a fireside chat with Gabbard, McCain, who has a long history of supporting marriage equality and gay rights, emphasized that being pro-woman and believing in women’s-only sports isn’t bigoted and doesn’t mean you’re anti-anyone. McCain and Gabbard discussed the fear mongering and cancellation happening in today’s society, and, as a result, self-inflicting censorship many people experience who believe men shouldn’t be in women’s sports. Their message was one that Independent Women’s Voice has been pushing through an “i AM Both” campaign: Individuals can stand for both equality and for women’s sex-based rights.
Speakers urged for leaders who will stand with women, as government officials, policymakers, and athletic associations are failing women and girls when it comes to protecting their single-sex spaces.
HERE’S WHAT FEATURED TALENT AT “STAND WITH WOMEN PENNSYLVANIA” HAD TO SAY:
Riley Gaines, Independent Women’s Voice ambassador, host of “Gaines for Girls” on OutKick, and author of Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind, opened the event: “We are here because we know what is at stake. We have seen the attack on women and we have seen the attack on objective truth.”
Tulsi Gabbard, former Hawaii congresswoman, 2020 presidential candidate, and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, on the need for leaders who stand with women: “As voters, as Americans, as people who care about women, whether you’re a man or a woman, we have to be the ones to hold them accountable. How can we trust having anyone in a position of decision-making and power to protect our young women and girls if, in this moment of crisis, they are cowards hiding in the corner?”
Meghan McCain, two-time Emmy-nominated former co-host on ABC’s The View and host of the podcast “Citizen McCain,” said: “We’re putting young women in physical danger, and I’m being told by society that should be okay. I can’t stand by it.”
Sia Liilii, women’s volleyball team captain at the University of Nevada Reno, whose team took a stand in forfeiting a game against San José State University, which rosters a male player on its women’s team, said: “I’m here today to tell those women who are forced to play against biological males that you have a voice, so use it, and be courageous, be brave, and don’t fear anything.”
Sage Steele, host of “The Sage Steele Show” and former ESPN broadcaster, said: “By all of you making the choice to be here today, what we’re doing is we’re hopefully making it so that Sia, and athletes like her, don’t have to be the ones to stand up. How about the adults in the room do what they’re supposed to do and take care of women and girls like they claim?”
Frank Murphy, former NFL wide receiver, Heisman Trophy winner, 2x Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, founder and CEO of the Mentoring with Purpose Charity for athletes and youth, and chairman of America First Policy Institute’s Athletes for America, said: “I had to realize that when I stand in front of my daughter and my granddaughter and they say, ‘Dad, what happened back then when Riley Gaines and all of them were standing up for women’s sports, what did you do?’ I want to be able to say I stood up with her.”
Carla Esparza, former professional mixed martial artist and wrestler and two-time UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion, said: “A few years back, Fallon Fox fought Tomikka Brents and in one round, gave her a concussion, seven staples in her head, and a broken orbital, and Tomikka said that this was by far the strongest person she ever fought. I emphasize that we’re putting people in danger here, and I think that needs to be the focus.”
Royce Gracie, retired professional mixed martial artist and UFC Hall of Famer, considered to be one of the most influential figures in the history of mixed martial arts, said: “There are a lot of tough girls out there who can defend themselves against the average guy, but when you put them at a high level, it will be very difficult in any sport. There’s a lot of people talking about it, but nobody wants to take a stand.”
Jen Sey, 7x National Team Member gymnast, 1986 National Champ, and founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, said: “We are the ones that can drive the change in the cultural conversation because once all the parents stand up and the brave athletes like Sia, the governing bodies will be humiliated into doing the right thing, and then they’ll pretend like they always stood with us.”
Cynthia Monteleone, Team USA Masters track athlete who has competed against a male in women’s races and whose daughter lost her first high school race to a male on the girls’ team, said: “Why is the Biden-Harris administration lying and pretending that it’s okay for men to be in women’s sports when the rest of the world knows the truth? I, for one, am going to use my voice to keep fighting.”
BACKGROUND:
Today, across America, women and girls are being sacrificed on the altar of “inclusion”—creating myriad issues for women’s rights. Society created spaces so that men and women can thrive, not only together, but also apart. Single-sex spaces are based on the biological and objective truth that men and women are different and that these differences matter. Recognizing these facts is crucial to protect women’s interests, not hold us back. When we blur the lines between men’s and women’s spaces, women lose out.
Independent Women’s Voice’s Stand With Women initiative is spearheading the movement to protect sex-based rights and honor women. We need strong leaders who will stand with women and fight to protect women’s opportunities, privacy, safety, and the most fundamental right in America: equality under the law.
The livestream of the event can be viewed here.
Photos can be downloaded here [credit: Independent Women’s Voice].
Riley Gaines discusses the event on Fox & Friends here.
Please direct all media inquiries to [email protected].
The views expressed by the speakers at this event are those of the speaker and not necessarily those of Independent Women’s Voice.
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