Trump’s Victory Doesn’t Mean the End of the Battle for Women’s Sports Integrity

Americans determined to protect women’s sports need to remain vigilant following Donald Trump’s electoral win. Although he has pledged to prohibit males from competing in women’s athletic events, there is significant resistance from Democrats.

The confrontation is only beginning.

In Riverside, California, two high school girls are suing their school district after being prohibited from wearing t-shirts that read “Save Women’s Sports” and “It’s common sense. XX≠XY.”

School authorities condemned the students and equated their apparel with endorsing Nazi ideology and displaying a swastika in front of Jewish students.

9th grader Kaitlyn Slavin and 11th grader Taylor Starling wore the T-shirts in protest of a trans-identified male athlete who, according to their lawsuit, did not satisfy the eligibility standards to be on the varsity team but was nonetheless placed on it, displacing Taylor.

“Why am I being displaced when I worked so hard and attended all the practices, while this student has only come to a few?” Taylor asked. An excellent question.

Even some in the left-leaning camp find this situation absurd.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass), who voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, recently said that he wouldn’t want his daughters to be “run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.”

However, his staff resigned in protest, and his comments sparked requests for his resignation.

Former Obama spokesperson Jen Psaki remarked that Moulton drew the incorrect conclusion from the election, claiming that there is “no evidence that these [transgender boys] pose a threat to safety or fairness.”

Psaki should inform Payton McNabb, the high school volleyball player who endured a severe brain injury in 2022 from a ball struck by a male player.

This message also needs to reach the United Nations, which has revealed that female athletes have lost over 900 medals to their male counterparts.

It should also resonate with Taylor, who was displaced on her track team by a trans-identified male athlete who seldom attended practices.

This struggle will persist until everyone who understands that women’s sports are exclusively for females is willing to advocate for it without fear of retaliation.

We represent the majority. Yet, it doesn’t feel that way at present.

Moreover, Trump can only achieve so much to counter the radicals’ tactics.

He can reverse the Biden administration’s revision of Title IX and re-establish sex-based rights for women and girls within educational institutions.

Yet many sports teams and organizations exist beyond Title IX’s purview.

The US Olympic movement reports to Congress but primarily receives its funding from private sources and adheres to directives from corporate America.

Private club sports, which often serve as pipelines for athletes into the Olympic arena, follow this model.

The International Olympic Committee also operates with private funding and sets its own standards. As seen at the Paris Olympics, the IOC is perfectly content with allowing males to compete against women in boxing, even rewarding them with medals.

Furthermore, 24 states have already embraced Biden’s revision of Title IX, with schools implementing policies that undermine equal opportunity and free expression. Reverting these changes will be necessary, as deeply liberal states pledge to continue their implementation.

Most importantly, no individual, including the president, can alter the beliefs and attitudes of the populace.

Politics is a reflection of culture, and we must shift the cultural narrative to regain free speech and fairness for women and girls.

Therefore, if you believe this battle has been won, think again.

That’s why we are adopting strategies from the Democrats to influence the cultural dialogue.

Woke corporations have allied with progressive advocacy groups like the Human Rights Campaign to embed progressive policies within businesses and educational settings, further propagated through marketing and advertising.

These extreme ideologies have infiltrated cultural norms, making it seem acceptable to claim that biology is a form of bigotry and that the truth itself is dangerous.

The Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute and XX-XY Athletics aim to normalize—indeed, make it appealing—to acknowledge that XX chromosomes exist and that women and girls deserve equal opportunities, safety, and privacy.

Through advocacy, branded initiatives, and uplifting female athletes in this cause, our organizations will be stronger collectively.

We stand in solidarity with the female athletes in Riverside, championing their freedom of expression and the right to compete on an equitable field.

We cannot afford to be passive. We must prevail in the cultural fight for truth, free speech, and rationality.

Until the culture evolves, males presenting as females will continue to seize opportunities from hardworking female athletes.

The future of women’s sports hangs in the balance.

Riley Gaines is the director of the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute and host of Outkick’s “Gaines for Girls” podcast. Jennifer Sey is the CEO and founder of XX-XY Athletics clothing.