by Riley Gaines
Vice President Kamala Harris’s administration rewrote Title IX so that men can compete in women’s sports and invade private spaces meant for women. Here in Pennsylvania, the illegal Title IX rewrite is in effect. In fact, University of Pennsylvania has been ground zero in this fight.
This prestigious ivy league school infamously allowed a former male swimmer, Will Thomas, to join the women’s swim team as Lia. UPenn’s women’s swim team, including sexual assault survivor Paula Scanlan, were told not to complain about having to share changing space with the 6 foot 2 inch male, and not to complain that this male would be taking a women’s slot to swim in just about all their competitions. The women were silenced and marginalized, while Thomas’s “bravery” was applauded in the media, and UPenn leaders patted themselves on the back for being so progressive and inclusive.
When you wonder why you now routinely see male athletes dominating women’s professional sports, making headlines at the Summer Olympics and the Paralympics, and injuring female athletes, that is why. Policy leaders — foremost our current president and vice president — decided that the feelings of men who identify as women are more important than preserving the safety and opportunity for actual women and girls.
Women and girls who worked their whole lives to make it to the Olympics, to get a scholarship to the college of their dreams, or just to play a high school sport and experience the joy of competition are being told they need to step aside. They are told to shut up and not complain, that speaking up for themselves is rude and could get them canceled or cut from their team. This is the message that so-called leaders at the NCAA and at universities sent women, and that’s certainly the message from Will Thomas and President Joe Biden.
Americans — Republicans, Democrats, and Independents — resoundingly reject this extreme agenda and the assault on female athletes. Polls consistently show this: the overwhelming majority of Americans want women’s sports preserved for women. Showing kindness to the trans-identifying community is important too, but kindness does not mean accepting a lie and threatening women’s rights.
A growing chorus of female athletes are bravely refusing to participate in the system that is robbing them of opportunity and sacrificing their dignity. Most recently, five collegiate women’s volleyball teams have refused to play against the San Jose State University, which rosters a 6’1″ male. The co-captain of San Jose State’s volleyball team is herself applauding those teams who are refusing to play them, recognizing the injustice of having to compete against a male. This isn’t just about who is going to win any single game, but is a serious safety issue. Trans-identifying male athletes still enjoy the lasting benefits of having gone through male puberty — which means they have more strength, speed, and jumping ability — which allows them to spike balls much harder than any female volleyball player ever has. A female volleyball player, Payton McNabb, who had to compete against a male, has already suffered permanent injuries after a ball was spiked at her head.
These female volleyball players are the latest in a long and growing line of women speaking out against the injustice perpetrated against female athletes. Legendary tennis player Martina Navratilova to former Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona have traveled the country to speak out on the need to take back Title IX and keep women’s sports female.
These women have courage. But they shouldn’t have to do this alone. We all should have their backs. We are holding an event on October 27 at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, where we will be joined by female athletes and leaders to discuss how we can work together to defend women and common sense.
President Trump said that if he is re-elected, he will defend the rights of female athletes on day one. The Wall Street Journal recently identified this as the “sleeper” issue of this election. This issue should be front and center, because it’s about more than just the fate of women’s sports. It’s about truth and common sense. Do our leaders know what a woman is? Too many have become blinded by this radical ideology or fear that they will be called intolerant or bigoted if they don’t fall in line. So they allow women to be forced to share private spaces with men — even the most vulnerable among us who deserve protection — women living in prisons, sexual assault and domestic violence survivors, and young girls in locker rooms.
Leaders need to speak up. Moms and dads, coaches, teachers, athletes, political candidates — all of us need to speak up and fight for a restoration of common sense. Join us.
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Riley Gaines is an ambassador with Independent Women’s Voice (iwv.org) and a former 12x All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky. She is the 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.
Photo “Riley Gaines” by Riley Gaines.
