Press Releases

Today, on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) celebrated the reintroduction of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. The legislation, authored by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) and cosponsored by Chairwoman Foxx, allows women and girls a fair playing field by ensuring that school athletics comply with the intent of Title IX to protect individuals from sex discrimination based on the person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth. This bill ensures that biological females compete against other biological females in women's sports sponsored by entities receiving federal education funding.
 
“I refuse to sacrifice the safety of girls and women on the field and in the locker room to the woke Left. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 will restore the safety, privacy, and opportunities of women and girls in sports. Our nation passed Title IX 50 years ago to give women equal access to education and athletic opportunities. This revolutionized women’s sports. Moving backward is not an option. We must honor the original intent of Title IX,” said Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC).
 
“Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports is a complete affront to the hardworking women and girls who have spent their lives training to achieve their dreams. It’s simple: biological males have no place in women’s sports,” said Rep. Steube. “Last Spring, Sarasota’s own, Emma Weyant, was robbed of her NCAA Championship in the 500 Freestyle by a biological male, Lia Thomas. Floridians and Americans across the country are rightly outraged at what has become of women’s sports. We’ve seen time and time again how the far left only favors fairness when it aligns with their woke agenda. That’s why today, I’m pleased reintroduce legislation that ensures women and girls a fair playing field in competitive sports.”
 
Original cosponsors of this legislation include Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Troy Balderson (R-OH), Ken Buck (R-CO), Jerry Carl (R-AL), Buddy Carter (R-GA), Jake Ellzey (R-TX), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Morgan Griffith (R-VA), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Jason Smith (R-MO), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Daniel Webster (R-FL), and Rob Wittman (R-VA). Full text of the legislation can be found here.
 
What They’re Saying:
 
Riley Gaines, 12x NCAA All American Swimmer and Independent Women's Forum Spokeswoman: “As an athlete who has experienced the injustice of competing against a male firsthand, I'm grateful for the leadership of Representative Steube. He has made it clear that he will fight for fairness, privacy, and safety for girls and women in sports.”

Jennifer Braceras, Independent Women's Law Center: “Allowing even a single female athlete to be displaced by a biological male is discriminatory, and it is unacceptable. We are grateful for Representative Steube’s leadership and for his efforts to protect equal athletic opportunities for both sexes.”

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, the nation’s largest women’s policy organization: “We have championed the cause of a fair playing field for female athletes for years and Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) has been our champion in Congress from the start. On this National Girls and Women in Sports Day, we declare that women’s sports are for women only. It’s time for Congress to stop injustice and discrimination against female student athletes in their own sports. Our organization that includes Young Women for America who are fighting this battle on their college campuses, applauds the introduction of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and urges its passage as a top priority for this Congress. Never again should female athletes face sex discrimination in their own sports.”

Terry Schilling, President of American Principles Project: “Women's sports should be limited to women. Just a few years ago, opposing that statement would have been unthinkable. Yet today, Democrats and their woke allies support policies that would allow any male athlete who identifies as a female to compete against women, and they brand anyone who disagrees with them bigots. Still, the vast majority of Americans desire to protect the integrity of women's sports, and once again this Congress, Rep. Greg Steube is leading the charge on their behalf. We thank Rep. Steube and all the co-sponsors of this bill, and we urge all members with even a modicum of common sense left to support it.”

Jessica Anderson, Executive Director, Heritage Action: “Women deserve equal treatment and protections on and off the field. Allowing men to compete against women in sports not only threatens their physical safety, but it also unfairly restricts their opportunities to earn scholarships and titles, set records, and qualify for elite teams. Heritage Action commends Rep. Steube for reintroducing the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Especially as the Biden administration and Left-wing members of Congress continue their attempts to radically redefine gender, we look forward to a conservative House passing this legislation and protecting women's opportunities to compete on a level playing field.”

Lierre Keith, Board Chair, Women's Liberation Front: “Women's Liberation Front is a non-partisan, radical feminist agency that represents women of every political affiliation. Women and girls deserve to play in athletic competitions that are fair and safe. Single-sex sports are critical to ensuring equal opportunity, scholarships, and careers, and new ‘gender identity’ policies threaten to set women back decades in progress. Girls who play sports demonstrate higher levels of confidence and positive body-image, achieve better grades in school, and are more likely to graduate. Additionally, even the fastest female Olympians are still out-run by high school boys, and biological differences between males & females are not even remotely changed by hormones or surgery. That said, most ‘gender identity’ policies do not require any physical or hormonal changes for men to identify as women to compete in female sports. When polled, two thirds of Americans agreed and emphatically said NO to allowing trans-identified boys and men into girls' and women's sports. For all these reasons, we strongly support the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.”

Rachel N. Morrison, J.D., Ethics and Public Policy Center: “The Biden administration is attempting to back the clock on women’s and girls’ rights by erasing their educational and athletic opportunities under Title IX. This bill would help ensure that female athletes will not have to submit to biological males who identify as female and give up their spots on teams, in competitions, at championships, and on the podium.”

Craig DeRoche, President and CEO, Family Policy Alliance: “This National Girls and Women in Sports Day, we applaud each of the women and girls who have fought so hard to compete in their sports! Unfortunately, many girls today are being pushed to the sidelines and robbed of scholarship opportunities because of a belief that men should be able to compete in girls’ sports. We are grateful to Congressman Greg Steube for re-introducing the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which will restore a true level playing field for girls’ sports.”

Matt Schlapp, CPAC Chairman: “CPAC strongly supports Rep. Steube’s Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Failure to pass such legislation has severe consequences, including taking away roster spots, records, and future scholarships from young women. It also sends a message to our adversaries that enough political pressure by their henchmen can turn the whole country into their woke nightmare.”

Paul Teller, Executive Director, Advancing American Freedom: “Female athletes deserve to fairly compete. Women’s sports need to be protected and should not be subjected to the whims of a woke agenda.”

Kim Jones and Marshi Smith, ICONS, Independent Council on Women's Sport: “Sport is universally loved across time and culture and women deserve a fair chance to participate and build upon that legacy. It should be empowering and uplifting for them to seek this opportunity. Not one woman or girl should be faced with the injustice of being asked to step aside for the sake of a male in her own category.”

Christiana Kiefer, Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom: “For over 50 years, Title IX has protected equal athletic opportunities for women. Sadly, radical activists—including members of the Biden administration—are threatening those opportunities by pretending biological differences are irrelevant or non-existent. Such denial of facts, science, and common sense distorts the law and reality, and women and girls bear the brunt of the consequences. Allowing males who identify as female to compete in girls’ sports destroys fair competition and erases women’s athletic prospects. We commend Rep. Steube and his colleagues for introducing the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, commonsense legislation that clarifies this important but simple truth. As we continue to witness increasing incidents nationwide of males dominating girls’ athletic competitions, it is imperative to affirm that biology, not identity, is what matters in athletics.”

Mary Szoch, Director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council and member of the University of Notre Dame's 2011 NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship Runner-Up Team: “It is great to see that Rep. Steube is reintroducing this bill and continuing the fight for fairness in women’s sports. Supporting a biological understanding of men and women opens the door to the equal treatment of men and women on the court, in the classroom, and later on, in the workplace. Title IX was passed to ensure that women were given the same opportunity to participate in sports. But safeguarding women’s sports certainly isn’t just about sports.  Sports are good because they teach lessons about life--how to work hard, how to win and lose with grace, how to compete, and how to push yourself beyond your limits. Yes, these lessons help women win games, but they also allow women to succeed academically and later in their chosen careers and personal lives. These lessons cannot be learned if the playing field isn’t even—if biological realities and truth are denied. When men are allowed to play women’s sports, the only lesson women learn is that because of biological realities, they will have to settle for second. We are grateful to Rep. Steube for working to make sure that women have a chance to win the gold.”

Tabitha Walter, Executive Director, Eagle Forum: “Radical gender ideology has pushed its way into women's locker rooms and onto girls' sports teams. It's time for Congress to draw a line in the sand to protect our daughters. Representative Steube's Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act ensures the intention of Title IX remains and is not given over to SOGI ideology. We urge every member to vote in favor of this bill.”
 
Kara Dansky, President, Women’s Declaration International USA: “If single-sex sports continue to be eroded, more and more women and girls will lose their spots on teams and podiums to males. This is in direct opposition to the intended purpose of Title IX (i.e., providing equal access to sports participation for women and girls), as well as common sense and the principles of fairness in athletic competitions. It is fairness—a level playing field—that must prevail over arguments about the inclusion of males as females, if women’s and girls’ sports are to exist as legitimate competitions. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 defines sex as based solely on a person’s immutable reproductive biology and genetics and would thereby give federal protection to women’s sports in the United States under title IX.”

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