Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) recently worked with former NCAA swimmer and conservative activist Riley Gaines to publish an opinion piece advocating for advancing the Women’s Bill of Rights (WBOR).
. @Riley_Gaines_, @RepHarshbarger: Radicals are trying to redefine 'woman.' It's why America needs a Women's Bill of Rights https://t.co/EnvG3fnlzE
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 17, 2023
Introduced by U.S. Representative Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08), the WBOR would “protect biological sex as a distinct legal category.”
Lesko’s WBOR does not create any special rights or replace the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution for women. Instead, it would “codify the common public understanding of sex-based terms and enshrine in law current court precedent regarding single-sex spaces,” meaning terms like “women” and “men” would legally accord with biological sex, not gender identity.
Harshbarger (pictured above) and Gaines’ Fox News opinion piece begins, “What is a woman? And what does it matter? It is becoming increasingly difficult to talk about women’s rights, or even basic biological reality, in a common language. While most Americans understand that a “woman” is an adult human female, radical gender ideologues want to redefine womanhood as a subjective state unrelated to biological sex. This redefinition of once-assumed basic facts has serious consequences for equal opportunity, privacy, safety and freedom of expression.”
Citing recent increases of females “losing” competitions, opportunities, and access to spaces intended for women to biological males, Harshbarger and Gaines called for the advancement of Lesko’s WBOR, saying that the legislation can provide “legal and linguistic clarity by addressing the meaning of laws that prohibit sex discrimination and helping to preserve single-sex spaces that are important for privacy, safety or equal opportunity.”
Addressing claims that the WBOR is “anti-transgender,” Harshbarger and Gaines write, “The WBOR does nothing to curb the rights of people who identify as transgender, nor does it bar states or the federal government from addressing the question of identification in other ways. It simply makes the law recognize the biological and very real differences between the sexes, and protects the rights women have been enjoying in America for decades.”
The pair adds, “We strongly believe that every person, regardless of sex, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity should be treated with equal dignity and respect, and should have access to the greatest level of opportunity that our country has to offer. However, any intellectually honest person must grant that eroding the definition of “women” will work against this goal and the hard-won progress that we’ve made when it comes to women’s rights.”
The pair concludes by saying, “Women cannot be pushed back. We won’t let it happen. Join us in supporting the Women’s Bill of Rights.”
I was honored to join @RepDLesko and @Riley_Gaines_ this morning in support of the Women’s Bill of Rights.
Gender extremists are putting women in danger and we must take action to protect all the progress women have made. pic.twitter.com/DyE65nU4u8
— Rep. Diana Harshbarger (@RepHarshbarger) May 17, 2023
Harshabrger and Gaines’ op-ed was published on the same day that they and other Congressional lawmakers – including Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) – spoke at a press conference to advocate for the WBOR’s advancement in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Diana Harshbarger” by Rep. Diana Harshbarger.
