Why Congress And The Senate Must Maintain Name IX’s’s Primary Objective

The U.S. House rightly passed a bill to preserve fairness in women’s sports, passing the baton to the U.S. Senate to follow suit. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act affirms that Title IX protects against policies that allow males to compete in — and often dominate — female sports, ensuring that women and girls have a fighting chance to train, compete, and win on the field, on the court, and in the swimming pool.

We have experienced firsthand the excellent work and in-depth training required to become the best company you can be as athletes who have competed at the pinnacle of their respective sports. We both understood the significance of fair competition and benefited from adequate sport opportunities even though we played numerous sports in various arenas.

A career in the NFL, followed by a commitment to helping communities and guiding the next generation of officials, were made possible by the opportunity to excel in college sports at the highest levels. Additionally, athletics you open the door for bursaries, work options, and leading opportunities that might not otherwise be available for teen female athletes by fostering self-assurance and discipline.

But when competition is unjust, young athletes may miss out on those chances.

Because of this, the recent increase in policies that discriminate against women and deny them of awards, titles, qualifying spots, college scholarships, and the chance to compete fairly thoroughly worries us. By relying on personal authenticity rather than natural wisdom, degree officials and sports governing bodies are allowing men to engage in female sports.

By prioritizing views over justice, we can no longer promote an environment of injustice.

This is the denial of truth that many of our female athletes know all too well. When the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference adopted one of these policies, Alanna was forced to compete against two males who identified as female. She saw her hard work vanish when she stepped up to the starting line. No matter how hard she trained, she knew she was competing for second or third place — never the top spot.

Anyone who has participated in a sport knows how disheartening it is to leave the locker room knowing you can’t lose because the competition is unfair. However, that is exactly what happens when men are allowed to participate in girls’ athletes.

Physiology is important in sports. Men are typically larger, faster, and stronger than women, according to science. They have thicker bones, bigger hearts and lungs, and more powerful muscle. The thing we have women’s’s sports is because endowed and trained men will always have a physical advantage over women.

Consider this: In one year, 275 high school boys ran faster times than the lifetime best of World Champion sprinter Allyson Felix. Despite dedicating her life and career to being the fastest woman in the world, Felix’s training couldn’t overcome high school boys’ physical advantages.

This science is backed up by basic common sense. It’s why despite living in an age of increasing political polarization, 62% of Americans believe that athletes should compete on sports teams according to their biological sex — including 41% of Democrats surveyed.

Additionally, it explains the extraordinary global movement to protect a level playing field for female athletes. A large and diverse democratic coalition is advocating for a level playing field for women and girls. 21 states have passed laws protecting female athletes in the last three years together, and many more are taking these laws into consideration this summer.

Yet, the Biden administration has continued to attack the very law that has ensured for over 50 years that women and girls can enjoy equal opportunities in athletics. In seeking to rewrite Title IX to allow men to compete on girls’ teams, the Biden administration is ignoring biological reality, upending democratically-passed protections in the states, and harming women and girls — all in the name of a political agenda.

Title IX was passed by Congress in 1972, giving women and girls the freedom to participate in sports at schools across the nation and embrace the performance and advantages that come with doing so. It’s’s time for Congress to take action and guarantee that girls and women will have access to those opportunities for another 50 years. We urge the Senate to ensure that females have the opportunity to participate in sports in the future, just like the House did.

Burgess Owens, who played defense in the NFL for 10 years with the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders before winning a tournament with them in Super Bowl XV in 1980, was one of the first four dark players to be recruited to play football at the University of Miami. He proudly represents Utah’s’s Fourth District in Congress as the Chairman of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee. He is the father of 12 ladies and the father of five ladies.

At the University of Tennessee, Alanna Smith competes in line. She had to compete against female sports in high school, which cost her placement opportunities. She is a defendant in Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools, an Alliance Defending Freedom case that aims to defend Title IX and the integrity of women’s’s sports.

The opinions expressed in this essay are their own, not really The Daily Wire’s’s.