Forty-eight years ago, next week, amendments to the Higher Education Act were passed by Congress and signed into law by President Richard Nixon. While the amendments covered many different issues within higher education, the legislation became famous for a provision known as “Title IX.” Title IX included a particular phrase that stated, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” — Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute (20 U.S. Code § 1681 – Sex)
This statement has been the basis for the vast majority of women’s sports programs in the nation today. In 1972 there were just 30,000 women participating in NCAA sports, as opposed to 170,000 men. Keep in mind that, the number of sports scholarships to college given to young men, was nearly 6 to 1.
Over the past 48 years, the number of women participating in NCAA athletic programs has multiplied five-fold. Today, more girls are able to access scholarships and other benefits associated with girls’ sports than ever before.
But all of the work to provide opportunities for girls to benefit from their own sports programs is under a threat never contemplated when the Higher Education Act was amended. Forty-eight years ago, it would have been inconceivable that a person born with male physical attributes would claim that their sex was subject to their subjective feeling rather than their objective biology.
The two sexes have physiological, psychological, and anatomical differences—many of which are self-evident even to the casual observer; some can only be seen through a microscope. Remarkably, even though both sexes share many of the same genes, some of those genes function differently in men and women. Even when a male chooses to take female hormones, it does not change that male into a female. They still retain masculine attributes no female will have.
In Wyoming this is a concept every farmer and rancher knows. When a colt is gelded, he does not become a filly. He is a gelding. He retains the musculature of a male horse and is noticeably different than a mare. Obviously, this remains true for all animals and people. When a human male takes female hormones or has a sex-change operation, he is still a male. Truth is truth. Biology is not hate speech.
That is why Idaho just passed important legislation trying to make sure that the promise of Title IX will not be washed away with boys taking over girls’ sports and winning the scholarships girls have worked so hard for. Even if those boys are taking female hormones and living their lives identifying as girls.
That is why Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming is working along with our national allies in the “Save Girls Sports” campaign. I’m asking you to give a gift of any amount today to help advance pro-family causes.
I hope you will continue praying for us and our nation, and consider a gift of $100, $250, $500 or even $1,000. And, as we continue to experience delays in mail delivery caused by the virus, I hope you’ll make your gift securely online today, so your investment in our nation’s future will go to work immediately.
Sincerely,
Nathan Winters
Executive Director
