GOP coalition calls for protection of women’s sports

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has announced that he has led opposition to the Biden Administration’s new Title IX rules which would force states to allow biological males to compete in women’s sports. 24 other Republican governors have joined the effort.

“It is outrageous and fundamentally unfair that the Biden Administration would force hard working female athletes, like my three daughters, to compete against biological males,” said Gov. Tate Reeves. “In their desperate commitment to a radical gender ideology, some politicians are willfully blind to the profound negative impact that is being exacted on female athletes who for 50 years have fought so hard for their positions in sports. We’ll continue fighting to protect fairness in women’s sports.”

The Biden Administration’s new Title IX rules expand the meaning of sexual discrimination to include gender identity that would prevent schools and colleges from protecting girls’ and women’s sports. Altogether, 25 Republican governors have united in opposition to the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed new regulation 34 C.F.R. § 106.41(b)(2). 

The proposed rule would mean that schools and colleges receiving federal funding could not impose an independent policy ensuring students play on teams consistent with their biological sex. This is a blatant overreach of the federal government on states’ rights. 

Excerpt: ​​“If [the rule is] not withdrawn, we are gravely concerned about the impact that the Department’s wholesale reinvention of Title IX’s terms would have on states’ ability to enforce their laws and policies as written… Most troubling, the proposed regulation would turn the purpose of Title IX on its head and threaten the many achievements of women in athletics.”  

Led by Gov. Tate Reeves (MS), additional signatories include:

Gov. Kay Ivey (AL), Gov. Mike Dunleavy (AK), Gov. Sarah Sanders (AR), Gov. Ron DeSantis (FL), Gov. Brian Kemp (GA), Gov. Mike DeWine (OH), Gov. Kim Reynolds (IA), Gov. Brad Little (ID), Gov. Eric Holcomb (IN), Gov. Mike Parson (MO), Gov. Greg Gianforte (MT), Gov. Jim Pillen (NE), Gov. Doug Burgum (ND), Gov. Chris Sununu (NH), Gov. Joe Lombardo (NV), Gov. Kevin Stitt (OK), Gov. Henry McMaster (SC), Gov. Kristi Noem (SD), Gov. Bill Lee (TN), Gov. Greg Abbott (TX), Gov. Spencer Cox (UT), Gov. Glenn Youngkin (VA), Gov. Jim Justice (WV), and Gov. Mark Gordon (WY).

The letter can be read in full here.