Girls Sports

Iowa Governor Signs Bill ‘That Safeguards the Rights of Women and Girls’

After contentious hearings and demonstrations at the Iowa Capitol, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a law protecting girls’ and women’s rights.

The new law, Senate File 418, defines “sex” in Iowa statutes as “the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth.” The measure also removes “gender identity” from nondiscrimination laws.

As legislators were considering the bill, transgender-identified protestors and their allies flooded the state Capitol, reported the Des Moines Register. “More than 2,000 LGBTQ rights supporters chanted, shouted and jeered in protest as House and Senate lawmakers passed the bill, sending it to Reynolds’ desk.”

The Gazette, a news outlet in Cedar Rapids, posted videos and photos from the protests. Protestors carried signs with the usual transgender slogans, such as “Trans Rights Are Human Rights” and “I’d rather have a TRANS daughter than a DEAD daughter.”

Here you can see some opponents of the bill singing, “We are singing, singing for our lives.”

The bill, of course, doesn’t take the lives or civil rights of transgender-identified people. Gender confused Iowans have all the same rights as other Iowans.

Adding spurious internal or socio-political identities, like “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” (SOGI), to non-discrimination laws harms those who disagree with these sexual ideologies. Such legislation is based on the idea that a person’s identity is defined by sexual attractions, thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

As we’ve previously written in the Daily Citizen, SOGI laws, policies and regulations affect freedom of speech, parental rights, religious freedom, girls sports and the basic privacy, safety and dignity of women and men. 

Something is not a “civil right” if it threatens or strips others of their civil rights, which is what SOGI nondiscrimination laws do.

The Iowa House passed the measure with a vote of 60-36, while the Senate passed the bill with a vote of 33-15.

In a video and press statement about SF 418, Reynolds said, “Today, I am signing into law a bill that safeguards the rights of women and girls.”

“It is common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women. In fact, it is necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls.”

The protections were necessary, the governor said, because the state’s “Civil Rights Code blurred the biological line between the sexes” and “forced Iowa taxpayers to pay for gender reassignment surgeries.”

The bill protects women in sex-segregated spaces and activities, the governor explained, saying:

It is why we have men and women’s bathrooms, but not men and women’s conference rooms; girls’ and boys’ sports, but not girls’ math and boys’ math; separate men and women’s prisons, but not different laws for men and women. It is about the biological differences, and that is all.

It is also why Iowa has enacted laws protecting girls’ sports for girls and women’s private spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms.

She added that all people deserve “respect and dignity, concluding her statement by saying, “What this bill does accomplish is to strengthen protections for women and girls, and I believe that is the right thing to do.”

In addition to defining “sex,” here are some of the other definitions from SF 418 which will be used in state statutes:

  • Female – means an individual who has, had, will have through the course of normal development, or would have but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident, a reproductive system that at some point produces ova.
  • Male – means an individual who has, had, will have through the course of normal development, or would have but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident, a reproductive system that at some point produces sperm.
  • “Woman” or “girl” refers to a female.
  • “Man” or “boy” refers to a male.
  • “Gender,” when used alone in reference to males, females, or the natural differences between males and females shall be considered a synonym for sex and shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.
  • The term “equal” does not mean “same” or “identical.”

The bill makes allowances for those with “a medically verifiable diagnosis of disorder or difference of sex development.” It allows for sex-segregated spaces in locker rooms, restrooms, prisons and shelters, and it forbids schools from promoting or instructing kindergarten through sixth grade students about sexual orientation or gender theory.

Related Articles and Resources:

Are Sex and Gender Different Things?

Department of Education Launches Multiple Investigations Into Title IX Violations

Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Dear Colleague Letter

Kansas Legislature Enacts ‘Help Not Harm’ Legislation, Overriding Governor’s Veto

Transgender Resources

Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces

What Are Male and Female in God’s Story?

Why a Trans Woman is a Not a Woman

Image from Shutterstock.

Senate Set to Vote on Bill that Protects Women’s Sports

The Senate is expected to vote Monday on the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” legislation reintroduced last month by Senator Tommy Tuberville and designed to make permanent President Trump’s executive order banning men from competing in women’s sports.

The House of Representatives passed similar legislation in January; all Republicans voted for the bill, along with Texas Democrats Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez.

“Common sense should tell us that women and girls shouldn’t be forced to compete in sports or share a school locker room with biological males,” said Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma. “Although the Biden Administration fought to erase biological differences, I want to uphold equal opportunity for the next generation of female athletes.”

Senator Tuberville echoed Senator Lankford, saying, “President Trump ran on the issue of saving women’s sports and won in a landslide.”

He added,

70% of Americans agree — men don’t belong in women’s sports or locker rooms. I have said many times that I think Title IX is one of the best things to come out of Washington. But in the last few years, it has been destroyed. While I’m glad that the Biden administration ultimately rescinded the proposed rule, Congress has to ensure this never happens again. I am welcoming my first granddaughter this spring and won’t stop fighting until her rights to fairly compete are protected. I hope every one of my colleagues will join me in standing up for our daughters, nieces, and granddaughters by voting for this critical bill.

Given the 53 Republican seats in the Senate and 60 votes needed to advance the bill for a final vote, the fate of Monday’s vote remains uncertain.

Regardless of what state you reside in, your senators need to hear from you. Please reach out to them and urge them to vote “yes” on the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” or S.9.

Opponents of the bill have wrongly suggested the legislation is dangerous and discriminatory. In reality, it helps to ensure the safety of women and rights a major wrong with females being unfairly targeted on various fields of competition. Over 900 women have lost trophies and awards to men pretending to be female.

Thankfully, the American people aren’t falling for the ruse. Wide majorities believe women shouldn’t have to be squaring off against men. It’s common sense. It shouldn’t be controversial.

Many have remarked on the powerful image of President Trump surrounded by girl and women athletes as he signed the executive order that officially (albeit temporarily) rescinded funding from any program that deprived female athletes of fair competition.

It’s tragic that common sense legislation like the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” is necessary. But what will be even more calamitous if an obstructionist minority of Senators refuse to protect our daughters from creeps, con artists and the mentally confused who are scamming girls sports. 

Again, please contact your two senators and ask them to vote “YES” on the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” or S.9.

Image from Getty.

Department of Education Launches Multiple Investigations Into Title IX Violations

The U.S. Department of Education has launched multiple investigations into schools and athletic associations for Title IX violations, including schools that allow boys in girls restrooms and sports.

The investigations follow an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, which declares that the practice of letting men compete in women’s sports is “demeaning, unfair and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

The order directs the DOE to remove federal funds from “educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.” 

The most recent investigation was launched after the president got into a dustup with Maine Governor Janet Mills over boys taking slots on girls teams, as National Review reported.

When asked whether Maine would follow the executive order, the governor replied the state was “complying with state and federal laws.”

The president then said, “We are the federal law. You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.” 

According to National Review, “Mills replied that she will see Trump in court as her state openly resists federal law. Maine’s high school sports governing body is continuing to abide by state law regarding athletic eligibility, defying Trump’s order.”

A male high school student recently won Maine’s Class B indoor girls pole vaulting championship, helping his team eke out a one-point victory for the Class B title.

The male sophomore, who goes by the name Katie Spencer, won the event with a vault of 10-6. Two girls, freshman Briella Boudreau and senior Kessa Benner, tied for second and third, 10-0.

As a result, the DOE announced it was looking into the Maine Department of Education “amid allegations that it continues to allow male athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic athletics and that it has denied female athletes female-only intimate facilities, thereby violating federal antidiscrimination law.”  

Maine’s not the only one being scrutinized for discriminating against girls. Here’s a roundup of more groups the DOE is looking into:

  • The DOE announced it was investigating “three entities for suspected Title IX violations: San Jose State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor released a statement saying, “This administration will not tolerate the mistreatment of female athletes.”

He added, “The previous administration trampled the rights of American women and girls – and ignored the indignities to which they were subjected in bathrooms and locker rooms – to promote a radical transgender ideology.” 

  • The education department released a statement that it had also “directed investigations into the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)” after the groups “publicly announced plans to violate federal antidiscrimination laws related to girls’ and women’s sports.”

According to the DOE statement, both groups “announced their intentions to abide by state law as it relates to girls’ and women’s sports in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws. Both state laws allow athletes to participate on teams based on an individual’s subjective gender identity rather than biological sex, even though biological sex is the basis for Title IX protections.”

  • The DOE’s Office of General Counsel announced it “sent a letter to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) urging them to restore to female athletes the records, titles, awards, and recognitions misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.”  
  • The DOE’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to the Denver Public Schools District for violating Title IX when “the District converted a girls’ restroom in East High School to a multi-stall all gender restroom.” The letter goes on to state: “East High School now has an exclusive restroom for male students and no restroom for female students on its second floor.” Not having equal facilities for girls clearly violates their Title IX rights, the letter said, adding that the department would be investigating discrimination at other Denver schools.

America First Legal Senior Advisor Ian Prior said in a statement, “A male student in these school districts can wake up, claim to be ‘gender expansive or transgender,’ and then have a pass to use female locker rooms and restrooms. If the female students are uncomfortable sharing those locker rooms and restrooms with that male student, it is the female students who must make alternative arrangements. That is sex discrimination.”

When boys participate in girls sports, they steal victories, scholarships and opportunities to compete. It’s also unsafe. Allowing boys into dressing rooms, showers and restrooms, as an assault on girls privacy, dignity and safety.

For too long, girls and women have been pushed to the sidelines by males claiming to be female. We applaud the Department of Education for launching these investigations and hope for success as they fight transgender ideology and discrimination against girls and women.

Related articles and resources:

The U.S. Department of Education offers resources related to Title IX here and complaint filing information here.

If you’re concerned about what your child is being taught in school, check out this updated, free resource from Focus on the Family and Family Policy Alliance: Equipping Parents for Back-to-School.

We want parents to feel confident and equipped to manage issues affecting public – and private and online – schooling. The FREE downloadable resource helps you be aware of what’s going on in your child’s classroom and offers guidance for how to advocate for your child in the school year ahead.

Addressing Gender Identity with Honesty and Compassion

Department of Education: Schools Embracing DEI Will Lose Funding

Don’t Let the Media Deceive You About Trump’s Order Protecting Female Athletes

The Journey Back to My True Identity

Parents Support Core Subjects, Keep Males out of Female Sports

Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces

What is ‘Gender Identity’?

Image from Shutterstock.

NCAA Ban on Men in Women’s Sports ‘Toothless,’ Say Advocates, Gaines

Flag on the play — the NCAA’s new gender policy won’t keep men out of women’s college sports, advocates like Riley Gaines allege.

The Policy

The NCAA ostensibly barred men from women’s teams earlier this month after President Trump signed “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” an executive order disqualifying educational organizations that allow men to join women’s sports teams from receiving federal funding.

The NCAA had previously allowed men undergoing transgender hormone interventions to compete on women’s teams. Under these rules, Gaines, an NCAA all-American swimmer, was forced to compete against — and share a locker room with — Lia Thomas, a man.

Eligibility Loophole

The NCAA’s new policy forbids “males assigned at birth” from competing on female teams, but it only defines “male” and “female” as the “designation doctors assign to infants at birth, which is marked on their birth records.”

The vast majority of states allow birth certificates to be altered to a person’s “preferred gender.”

According to the Movement Advancement Project, a non-profit advancing gender ideology, only six states — Florida, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas — allow no changes to birth certificates.

Most states, and the District of Columbia, will change a person’s sex on their birth certificate if they provide evidence of undergoing transgender medical interventions. Fourteen states — California, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington — will make changes upon request, no questions asked.

In an article critiquing the NCAA’s “toothless” policy, Jennifer Sey, a former member of the U.S. National Gymnastics Team and the founder of XX-XY Athletics, argues that states are working to accelerate the birth certificate editing process to get ahead of rules like the NCAA’s.

She points to Governor Bob Ferguson of Washington State, who announced on February 12, “The [Washington] Department of Health will now process all requests to change gender designation on birth certificates within three business days. Previously, there was as much as a 10-month wait.”

“Hurrah! Now men can lie faster!” Sey opined.

An NCAA spokesperson tried to dodge criticism, telling Fox News, “The policy is clear that there are no waivers available, and athletes assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team with amended birth certificates or other forms of ID.”

But this language isn’t included in the policy — quite the opposite. The organization explicitly writes, “Schools are subject to local, state and federal legislation and such legislation supersedes the rules of the NCAA.”

Does this mean the NCAA will accept “edited” birth certificates from states that allow such changes? It doesn’t say. Nor does it take responsibility for verifying the authenticity of athletes’ identification, writing, in part:

As with all other NCAA eligibility criteria, member schools remain responsible for certifying student-athlete eligibility for practice and competition.

The NCAA’s hands-off approach makes it easy for administrators to rubber-stamp “edited” birth certificates and allow men onto women’s teams.

Practice Squad Loophole

In an interview with Fox, Gaines identified another glaring problem with the NCAA’s revised policy — it allows men who practice with women’s teams access to “benefits” afforded to female athletes.

“A student-athlete assigned male at birth may practice on the team consistent with their gender identity and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes who are otherwise eligible for practice,” the document reads.

An NCAA spokesperson told Fox the carve-out protects women’s teams that routinely practice against men, like basketball teams. But the policy doesn’t include any language forbidding men in these situations from accessing women’s locker rooms.

“No mater how you read it, men are still allowed to receive women’s benefits, which includes access to their locker rooms,” Gaines told Fox. “There’s no screening. There’s no oversight.”

Why the Hesitation?

Women deserve to compete in single-sex sports and change in single-sex locker rooms. That’s called equality. The NCAA purports to agree, but their policy doesn’t reflect the position it represents to the news.

If the NCAA truly wants to keep men out of women’s sports, it shouldn’t have any problem requiring athletes to present unedited birth certificates or forbid men on practice squads from accessing women’s locker rooms.

The longer the NCAA refuses to address these oversights, the more likely it seems they’re not interested in protecting women in their organization.

That’s a big problem.

Additional Articles and Resources

ADF: Victory for women, girls: Federal court rejects Biden admin redefinition of ‘sex’ in Title IX across country

Biden Becomes Nation’s Most Powerful Trans Activist With Executive Order

Court Rules Against DOE’s Title IX Rewrite, Saving Women’s Sports & Spaces – For Now

House Passes Bill Protecting Women and Girls in Sports

Olympic Women’s Boxing Champ is Officially a Man

Middle School Girls Who Protested ‘Trans’ Athlete Are Banned From Future Competition

Shoving Girls Off the Podium: More Male Athletes Participating in Girls Sports

Olympic Privilege? Officials Protect Women’s Sports — But Only at the Highest Level

Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces

Yesterday, President Trump celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day by signing a much-anticipated executive order to protect women’s sports and spaces across the United States.

The signing ceremony was packed with female athletes and other champions for women and girls in the East Room at the White House.

Some more well known female athletes included Riley Gaines and Payton McNabb — the high school volleyball player who was knocked unconscious when a male playing on the opposing girls’ volleyball team spiked a volleyball into her face.

President Trump told attendees that his executive order is about commonsense.

He said, “From now on, women’s sports will be only for women.”

The executive order is titled, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

The order declares that the practice of letting men compete in women’s sports is “demeaning, unfair and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

The order continues:

Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.

The order is applicable to K-12 public schools, colleges and universities.

At the signing ceremony, President Trump said, “We are putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice – if you let men take over woman’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding. There will be no federal funding.”

The order requires the secretary of education “take all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms” and directs the secretary to prioritize enforcement against schools that violate the policy. 

Additionally, the secretary of state is directed to use all appropriate and available measures to convince the Olympics Committee to limit women’s sports to only female athletes.

The order is a victory for every girl and every woman who advocated for a level playing field in sports, talked about fairness in competition, and refused to be silenced or canceled by radical transgender activists.

Earlier this week, a new pro-woman video with Riley Gaines went viral after being shared by J.K. Rowling. The post, featuring the video, got over six million views in the first 36 hours.

President Trump told attendees that the war on women’s sports is over and while that might be true under this Administration there are no guarantees in the next.

The only way forward is to cement this executive order into federal law; legislation to do so was introduced in the House of Representatives last month. 

It is imperative that Congress act as soon as possible to protect women’s sports and spaces through statute.

We can never go back to the dark days of the past where women were denied equal opportunities, their safety and security was sacrificed on the altar of gender ideology.

Image from Getty.