It is a rare moment when ConservativeHQ.com endorses a piece of legislation sponsored by
a Democrat, but the “Protect Women’s Sports Act” sponsored by Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-2) is a good bill and definitely one conservatives should support.
With just a few legislative days left before the 116th Congress mercifully adjourns there is little likelihood that H.R. 8932 will pass both houses of Congress and become law before President Trump leaves office, but it lays down an important marker for the future.
In its simplest terms the bill clarifies that Title IX protections for female athletes are based on biological sex.
Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding, and is well known for its requirement that women’s sports programming receive equal support to men’s programming.
As Rep. Gabbard explained in a statement released upon the bill’s introduction, “Title IX was a historic provision… to provide equal opportunity for women and girls in high school and college sports. It led to a generational shift that impacted countless women, creating life-changing opportunities for girls and women that never existed before. However, Title IX is being weakened by some states who are misinterpreting Title IX, creating uncertainty, undue hardship and lost opportunities for female athletes. Our legislation protects Title IX’s original intent which was based on the general biological distinction between men and women athletes based on sex.”
Rep. Gabbard continued, “It is critical that the legacy of Title IX continues to ensure women and girls in sports have the opportunity to compete and excel on a level playing field.”
If H.R. 8932 became law, the legislation would deny federal funding to schools that “permit a person whose biological sex at birth is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.”
The legislation is desperately needed because, as The Daily Wire noted in its reporting on the bill, “In April, Idaho banned trans athletes from women’s sports, though the state is being sued by Boise State track and field athlete Lindsay Hecox. In May, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights decided that allowing transgender athletes to compete in Connecticut high school sports violated the civil rights of female athletes. The Supreme Court ruled in June, however, that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is classified alongside sex discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.”
Naturally, the anti-science Left and “LGBTQ+” lobby went nuts. As Time magazine online reported, “It’s shameful that one of Rep. Gabbard’s last acts in Congress is to attack trans youth,” said Chase Strangio, deputy director for Trans Justice with the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project in a statement provided to TIME. “While this bill will not advance, it has already sent a dangerous message to trans youth and is spreading the same lies that are fueling attacks on trans youth in state legislatures.”
“Rep. Gabbard’s harmful and unnecessary bill is not about protecting girls and women’s sports. There’s no evidence in the 18 states with policies that allow transgender athletes to participate on teams consistent with their gender identity that inclusion negatively impacts athletic programs,” added GLAAD’s Alex Schmider, Associate Director Transgender Representation. “This is more about opportunistic people like Rep. Gabbard who, under false pretense, claim to be protecting girl’s sports to justify discrimination.”
Introducing the “Protect Women’s Sports Act” hardly qualifies Rep. Gabbard as a conservative or closet Republican. On most issues she is for what once passed for a traditional liberal Democrat positions, so the vitriol directed at her from the Far Left LGBTQ+ lobby shows how far away from the views of mainstream America the Democratic Party and its allies have moved over the past couple of years.
Beth Stelzer, an amateur powerlifter and the founder of Save Women's Sports, summed-up the reasons why defending women in athletics ought not be a partisan nor religious issue. “If we allow males to compete in female sports, there will be men's sports, there will be co-ed sports, but there will no longer be women's sports."
Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia has a similar bill, the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2020,” which we also endorse and which provides another good reason for conservatives to turn out and vote for Senator Loeffler in the January 5, 2021 Georgia runoff election.
2020 Election
Protect Women's Sports Act
Tulsi Gabbard
H.R. 8932
Title IX
biological sex
transgender
Lindsay Hecox
gender identity
LGBTQ
Beth Stelzer
Senator Kelly Loeffler