WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Independent Women applauds bicameral congressional efforts to advance legislation that would enshrine biological reality in law and codify President Donald J. Trump’s sex definition executive order. Independent Women, the original architects of model legislation that establishes common legal definitions for ‘woman’, ‘man’, ‘female’, and ‘male’, urges swift action to pass this legislation in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House.
The Defining Male and Female Act, which U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS) and U.S. Representative Mary Miller (R-IL) have introduced, would affirm that sex is a binary biological reality–male and female, restore common sense distinctions between woman and man, and provide much-needed clarity in U.S. legal code.
For years, as academics and much of the progressive left have sought to undermine our shared understanding of common language so that men who claim to identify as women can access what are meant to be female-only arenas, Independent Women has championed policies to define sex-based terms while safeguarding women’s private and vulnerable spaces, including sports, locker rooms, bathrooms, domestic violence shelters, and prisons.
Independent Women issued a letter in support of the Defining Male and Female Act. Carrie Lukas, Independent Women’s Voice Vice President, stated in the letter, in part:
“We are pleased to strongly support the Defining Male and Female Act of 2025, which affirms that sex is a biological reality determined at conception. The Biden administration eroded Title IX —replacing sex with gender identity—undermined its original purpose: preventing sex-based discrimination and protecting women. Women should not have to battle to preserve their sex or their spaces. Thankfully, President Trump’s day one sex-definition executive order rejected this absurd and pernicious ideology, and provided needed clarity to sex-based words like ‘woman,’ ‘man,’ ‘female,’ and ‘male,’ preserving the legal existence of women as distinct from men. Now is the time for Congress to codify this order.”
Senior legal advisor for Independent Women, Beth Parlato, said, “It’s unfortunate in the U.S. we’ve been forced to define sex-based words. I’m looking forward to the swift passage of this commonsense legislation to preserve the legal existence of women.”
In 2021, Independent Women developed the nation’s first sex definition model and launched the Stand With Women initiative, amplifying the voices of over 70% of Americans who support these goals. Independent Women’s Stand With Women Act has since become the basis of legislation to define sex and protect women’s spaces which is now law in 15 states—30% of states—(soon to be 16 with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signing this critical legislation).
As new polling commissioned by Independent Women’s Voice and conducted by Wick Insights shows, 86% of American Voters overwhelmingly agree, women and men are legally equal, but they are not biologically the same.
Read Independent Women’s full letter of support here.
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