Press release:
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) today, on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, introduced The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act alongside Congressman Greg Stuebe (R-Fl.). Additional original cosponsors of this legislation include Representatives Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Jerry Carl (R-Ala.), Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), Jake Ellzey (R-Texas), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), and Rob Wittman (R-Va.).
This legislation guarantees women and girls a fair playing field in competitive sports by ensuring that school athletics comply with the Title IX recognition of a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth. This commonsense bill ensures that biological females are not forced to compete against biological men in women's competitive sports funded through Title IX.
“This legislation is about protecting the equal opportunity for women and girls to fairly compete and succeed in athletics,” said Congresswoman Tenney. “President Joe Biden’s Department of Education and state agencies across the nation are allowing – even encouraging – biological men to participate in women’s sports. This is fundamentally unfair. It deprives women and girls of what so many of us fought for decades to achieve: equal opportunity to train, compete, excel in athletics. The Republican majority has pledged to protect women’s sports, and today we’re delivering on that promise.”
On behalf of Congressman Greg Stuebe, Congresswoman Tenney spoke on the House floor to introduce this piece of legislation.
Watch her full remarks here or read the full remarks prepared for delivery below:
Sports and athletic competitions provide essential opportunities for women to thrive at every state of their life. As children in youth sports, as teens in high school, in college, and beyond.
As a former athlete in high school and college, I know the unparalleled opportunities that sports offer to women and girls. They are a chance to learn new skills, develop lifelong friendships, and challenge yourself to compete at the highest levels. Title Nine and the banning of discrimination against women in school sports made so much of this possible for me, and countless other women.
But today, these opportunities are under threat.
Joe Biden’s Department of Education and state agencies across the nation are allowing – even encouraging – biological men to participate in women’s sports. This is fundamentally unfair. It deprives women and girls of what so many of us fought for decades to achieve: equal opportunity to train, compete, excel in athletics.
We saw this last year in the NCAA women’s swimming championship, when a female athlete was robbed of her title by a biological male. And this is not an isolated incident. It is happening in countless other sports and athletic leagues.
Today we take a stand up, with compassion for all, in defense of women’s sports and to stop this dangerous precedent.
This is why I am honored to cosponsor Rep. Greg Steube’s Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and to announce its introduction today in honor of National Women and Girls in Sports Day.
This bill will make it a violation of Title Nine for biological men to compete in sports designated for women or girls.
Further, it sensibly defines sex based on one’s biological designation at birth. This bill isn’t just anti-woke, it is pro-science.
This bill will protect opportunities for women and girls to compete fairly on the athletic field and in life - without interference from woke agencies or politicians who are making up definitions of sex and gender as they go, all to fit toxic political agendas and ideologies.
Women have fought hard over the years for equality of opportunity, and it is essential we protect these opportunities we cherish today for generations of girls to come.
The Republican majority has pledged to protect women’s sports, and today we’re delivering on that promise.
