February 1, 2023, was National Girls and Women in Sports Day. To celebrate, U.S. Representative Greg Steube reintroduced legislation to save girls and women’s sports.

“The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” would amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to stipulate that any entity that must comply with Title IX must recognize sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

“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 in announcing the legislation.

Multiple other representatives are cosponsoring the bill, including Reps. Virginia Foxx, Claudia Tenney, Troy Balderson, Ken Buck, and Jerry Carl, among others.

Numerous organizations are also supporting the Act, including the Independent Women’s Law Center, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, American Principles Project, Heritage Action, Women’s Liberation Front, Ethics and Public Policy Center, and Family Policy Alliance, among others.

Rep. Steube also pointed to an example from the Spring of 2022 when 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 to reintroduce legislation that ensures women and girls a fair playing field in competitive sports,” Rep. Steube added.

There is a myriad of other examples of male athletes stealing races, places and scholarships from female athletes.

The nonprofit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is currently in court representing four female athletes from Connecticut who have all been harmed by male athletes competing against them in high school athletics. These girls include Selina Soule, Alanna Smith, Ashley Nicoletti and Chelsea Mitchell.

Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the four female athletes, permitting the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference to allow males who identify as females to compete in girls athletics. That case is Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools.

In Connecticut, in just three years, two male athletes broke 17 girls track meet records, 15 women’s state track championship titles and 85 opportunities for girls to compete at the next level.

In a statement after the legislation, ADF Senior Counsel Christiana Kiefer, who is representing the four girls in the case, commended Rep. Steube and his colleagues for introducing the legislation.

“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,” Kiefer said. “Such denial of facts, science, and common sense distorts the law and reality, and women and girls bear the brunt of the consequences.”

She continued:

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.

In addition to potential federal protections, as of June 2022, 18 states have passed legislation protecting female athletes including: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

And in several other states including Colorado, Missouri, Ohio and Maryland, legislation to protect girls sports has been introduced.

It’s strange that we’re in such a time that we need federal and state legislation to prohibit males from competing in girls and women’s sports.

Yet we are, and increasingly so.

Let’s hope and pray that someday soon, every female athlete across the country will be able to compete safely and fairly. A just society demands nothing less.

Photo from Shutterstock.