Female Athletes and Coaches Expose Biden's
Overhaul of Title IX — "The Most Anti-Woman Pursuit of This
Administration"
WASHINGTON, July 2, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Our Bodies, Our Sports' landmark
"Take Back Title IX" Summer 2024 Bus Tour across America to
build widespread support to repeal the Biden administration's new
Title IX rewrite and protect women's sports wrapped up its final
rally in Nashville on Friday with
a packed room, filled with energized supporters of all ages and
women's rights advocates. The tour, featuring prominent and
decorated female athletes and coaches, traveled throughout 30
states in 30 days to inform the public about the consequences of
the illegal changes to Title IX and the threat to women and girls'
sex-based spaces — including sports. Biden's Title IX rewrite takes
effect on August 1.
The tour was sponsored by Our Bodies, Our Sports
coalition, the nation's first and only coalition of women's
advocacy organizations from across the political spectrum fighting
to protect women's sports, featuring former Olympians, NCAA
athletes and coaches, high school athletes, and prominent women's
advocates.
Speakers along the tour included 12x All-American swimmer
Riley Gaines; one of the
greatest tennis players of all time, Martina Navratilova;
former U.S. Representative (D-HI) and original sponsor of the
Protect Women's Sports Act Tulsi
Gabbard; former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos; two-time Olympian Nancy
Hogshead; two-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer
Donna de Varona; one of the
most winningest coaches in women's basketball history, former UNC
Chapel Hill head coach Sylvia
Hatchell, and more. (A full list of speakers is
available below.)
The tour built upon the momentum the Our Bodies, Our
Sports coalition has generated over the past two years standing
up for women and girls and fighting against the radical left's
assault on the very concept of womanhood — creating the largest,
most ideologically diverse women's movement of our time.
Coalition members include: Independent Women's Forum (IWF),
Women's Liberation Front (WoLF), Champion Women, Women's Sports
Policy Working Group, International Consortium on Female Sports
(ICFS), Independent Council on Women's Sports (ICONS), the US
chapter of Women's Declaration International (WDI USA), Concerned Women for America (CWA),
Young Women for America, Independent
Women's Voice (IWV), Independent Women's Law Center (IWLC), and
Independent Women's Network (IWN).
Our Bodies, Our Sports believes that taking
opportunities from women and giving them to men doesn't enforce
Title IX, it violates it.
"The administration is turning back the clock on women's rights
and declaring us unworthy of protection and opportunity," said
Paula Scanlan, former
teammate of Lia Thomas who was
forced to undress with him up to 18 times per week at the
University of Pennsylvania.
Tennis legend and member of the Women's Sports Policy Working
Group Martina Navratilova said including men who identify as
women in women's sports is simply "not possible." "By allowing
trans-identified males in women's sports, you're excluding
women."
"To assume that women need to bear the burden of someone else's
gender identity is a burden that's uniquely put on women,"
Independent Women's Law Center Director May Mailman said. "It is
discriminatory."
"This is the most anti-woman, anti-reality pursuit we have seen
from this administration," said 12x All American, Independent
Women's Forum ambassador, and OutKick.com host Riley Gaines. "The war on women is in full
effect."
While the tour received overwhelming support, not everyone
agreed with it. In addition to attacks and name calling from those
hidden behind keyboards and usernames, overnight vandals defaced
the "Take Back Title IX" bus following an Our Bodies, Our
Sports rally in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina. The attack boosted enthusiasm and engagement
leading into the tour's final leg of events.
The final stretch of the tour took place during National Women's
Sports Week [June 23-29], initiated
by Independent Women's Forum in 2022 and observed annually during
the week of June 23 to coincide with
the anniversary of Title IX. In recognition of Women's Sports Week,
the tour held two special events featuring music performances in
Washington, DC, and Nashville, TN, presented by OutKick.com, to
celebrate female athletes – past, present, and future – for their
athletic participation and achievement in sport.
Country artists Jeffrey Steele
and Alexis Wilkins performed.
Steele, an award-winning songwriter, wrote an updated verse in his
song made popular by Eric Church,
'Stick That in Your Country Song,' for Riley Gaines.
On the final stops of the tour, supporters had the opportunity
to sign two open letters – one to the Biden administration and the
other to leadership in Congress. The letters were on display on
large 4-ft boards for attendees to sign to showcase the widespread
support to protect women's sports and stop the illegal rewrite of
Title IX. The letter to Congress urges bipartisan support for the
bicameral Congressional Review Act resolution (S.J. Res. 96 &
H.J. Res. 165) to overturn the administration's Title IX rule.
The letters can be viewed HERE and
HERE.
The Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition plans additional
work this summer and into the fall advocating to support Title IX
in its original form and to return fair play for women and
girls.
Direct all media inquiries to
press@ourbodiesoursports.com.
Click HERE to see all stops on the Our Bodies, Our
Sports' landmark "Take Back Title IX" Summer 2024 Bus Tour
www.ourbodiesoursports.com
www.iwf.org
Independent Women's Forum is dedicated to
developing and advancing policies that aren't just well intended
but actually enhance people's freedom, choices, and
opportunities.
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SOURCE Independent Women's Forum