By Rep. Steve Scalise and Rep. Debbie Lesko
Fifty years ago today, President Richard Nixon signed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 into law. Title IX mandated parity for men and women at educational institutions that received funding from the federal government. Sadly, Democrats are turning the original intent of Title IX on its head and are advocating for biological males to compete against biological females – effectively destroying women’s sports.
The purpose of Title IX was to update the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, at the time, did not ban discrimination against women at educational institutions. A byproduct of the Education Amendments of 1972, which sought to give women an equal playing field in education, led to women’s sports teams at the K-12 and collegiate levels receiving the same funding as men’s sports teams.
Thanks to this, the number of female athletes has grown exponentially.
According to the National Library of Medicine, from 1973 to 2018, the percentage of high school sports played by girls increased from 24.2 percent to 42.9 percent. The authors note, “Girls’ participation in high school sports continues to grow not only in numbers but in the types of sports played.
During the 1971-1972 school year, less than 300,000 girls participated in their high schools’ athletic programs while there were over 3.5 million boys participating during the same time period. Fast-forward to the 2018-2019 school year, and there are more than 3.4 million girls participating in their high schools’ athletic programs.
This expansion wasn’t just limited to high school sports.
In 1972, less than 30,000 female athletes competed in intercollegiate sports. In 2020, a record number of students competed in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports– with over 280,000 men and 220,000 women participating in their colleges’ professional sports teams.
Every American has the right to freely express himself or herself, as long as their actions do not infringe upon the rights of others, but that is exactly what is happening in women’s sports. Allowing men to compete in women’s sports ignores hundreds of years of science, biology, and reality. It tosses out specific rules designed to keep athletic competition fair.
We have heard the heartbreaking stories of young women and girls from across the country who are losing competitions and even scholarships to biological males who choose to identify as women and girls. Unfortunately, many of these young women who try to speak out have been threatened and silenced.
In an open letter, 16 athletes on the University of Pennsylvania women’s swimming and diving team wrote, “It has often felt like Penn, our school, our league, and the NCAA did not support us,” and said that they were told that they would be removed from the team or “we would never get a job offer” if they spoke out publicly against Lia Thomas’ inclusion in women’s competition.
Lia Thomas went on to win the NCAA women’s 500 freestyle, beating out an Olympic silver medalist. This is a deep distortion of Title IX and takes successes away from the women who have earned them in the name of gender identity politics.
While the world governing body for swimming has banned many transgender athletes from competing in women’s events, this measure comes too late for the women who have already lost opportunities and medals because they had to race against biological men.
In order to help protect the future of women and girls’ sports, Democrats should remember the bedrock of Title IX – equality for women.
Women’s sports should be reserved for the women and girls who work hard and train for them, not men. Biological males should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports. Sports that are designated for girls should only include girls.
This should not be a partisan issue.
As President Biden and Speaker Pelosi perpetuate the left’s radical gender ideology, women deserve better from their elected leaders. It is shameful that Democrats’ divisive politics and radical gender ideology ignore basic science and are destroying women’s sports that Title IX was created to protect.
WAKE UP AMERICA!
FASCIST liberals HATE WOMEN, MEN, FAMILIES, EDUCATION, OUR MILITARY, SECURE BORDERS, ENERGY INDEPENDENCE, GOD, and The UNITED STATES of AMERICA.
HOW CAN YOU KEEP ALLOWING DICTATOR Beijing biden, COMMUNIST harris, and SWAMP QUEEN pelosi to KEEP DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND HOME?
I didn’t think that in the Woke Culture, women existed. Aren’t they now “birthing people” and other such names?
Life will always have perverts’. I fault these girls who tolerate and accept this as “the way things are now.” Seams like our modern girls have lost their nerve.
Just a thought from a really old guy.
Question. If we can fire employees for consistent underperformance, why can’t we just fire the sitting regime? It’s like a company that continues to pay ruinous workers. Now, imagine a company full of these destructive, underperforming, disastrous employees. The company wouldn’t survive … just like our Country now. Just asking ….
Wake up. Communist & Fascist govenrments view women as SECOND CLASS CITIZENS. All the advances that have been made since WWII are being stripped away again. WOKE, is only to fool people into following and bowing down to the destruction of our Free Nation.
The real question to ask is, “Why do we continue to allow this type of insanity?”
I forgot to mention, the Liberals are the ones with their shoe on the necks of Women. They even want to demean them so they “know” that they are insignificant.
The only way you stop this is to vote Republican in every election for school boards, town council, mayors, state & federal representatives & senators.
This entire gender-identity thing can be traced back to school unions I think. Unions typically vote democrat. Teachers can not stand their ground in schools reinforcing gender identity because unions will not permit it. So, they’re stuck supporting whatever the candidates support. Three generations along now and there is a numbness to what used to be good and right. Now, nothing can be good unless everybody’s included; and, nothing can be right unless everything from everywhere is accepted. Insanity reigns supreme in public schools where kids are actually forced to think about which bathroom to use. Generations have lost their identity because of unions and the extortion/money pit that they have become.
Anything the Democrats touch turn wicked.
I am woman hear me Roar ! Guess they will speak up after competing against enough “women ” with beards and get tired of losing . If not Uncle Joe will handle it .
I know if I had the money, I would cover any scholarships lost by these women, so they can move on. This is tragic, but fortunately this is only a small part, but I think it will backfire in the future with these transgenders, as they may win in youth, but they will not be able to overcome the future things that will affect them because they will lose in the end, as in Galatians that what one sows in seed, but it will come back in the whirlwind.
I would also offer women’s sports where only women would be allowed. I would do this legally as a private individual not as an institution in such a way that the government would not be able to say how I need to do this.
Also there are big women that could overcome these trans persons and leave them also in the dust. In any case, there needs to be a way to overcome this type of nonsense till it can be ended,
libs DESTROY EVERYTHING. THAT’S WHY they ARE SO CANCEROUS. TO BAD they DO NOT DESTROY themselves. THEN WE’D BE ON OUR WAY TO UTOPIA
Women compete with men to be combat soldiers and marines, police and fire fighters. Why not in sports?
SAVE THE U.S.A…..DESTROY THE DEMONRATS, LIBTURDS, AND OTHER AMERICA HATERS!!
Tremendous irony involved here either women are to be respected in the sports arena and in the job place or their not. Can’t have both dimwits. I suggest you really rethink this. What is more important, 50% of the population or a single digit fringe group?
this is a travesty, we must return to a society of common sense policies and moral values on which our country was founded. God Bless Us All!!!
Well, what do you expect. a Dim SCOTUS doesn’t know what a “woman” is?
Remember when the ALPHABET people were allowed to be Boy Scout leaders! How did that work out?
The marxist democrat party seeks to destroy everything about America so its really not a surprise that even God given genders are under attack!
There is something truly wrong with any political party who wastes time,money and energy on something which such as re-writing gender oddities and forcing minors to even consider such nonsense.
What is the matter with these politicians? What
Citizens to them these areas are a priority?
Who asked them to spend the taxpayers money on such perverse and weird personal matters?
I believe these are all marxist democrat diversions aimed at seeing how far they can push real Citizens or an attempt to shame normal people into tolerance of issues NOBODY cares about while they destroy America from within!
They are evil,self serving,immoral ,Godless failures.
If these transgenders are the real thing lets see them have a baby, from start to finish. Second of all Ive never seen the word transgender in the bible , Gods Word;
Yep! DemocRats will destroy anything that is rational and practical … they can’t take advantage of ripping it off and/or controlling it, so they mess it up hoping it will heal in their favor. I have come to think that the DemocRat Party is a real danger to the welfare of the American citizenry.
Our newly elected Supreme Court judge can’t even define a woman, yet Biden stated he wanted a black “woman” to fill the position . This is inconceivable! It’s common sense to normal people, but these democrats in power disrupt every thing that makes sense! The reason why they think this way is all about the vote . They think every A,B,C person will vote Democratic. Just like they think all these ILLEGALS will vote for them . It’s sick ! November can’t come fast enough, and 2024.
Males in sports & transgender males should not be allowed to engage in Womens sports what so ever , it is unfair & ruins the sport. AMERICA is going down hill in just about everything we do .
Genes don’t lie—they identify.