By Kim Russell & Payton McNabb
This Women’s Sports Week marks the 53rd anniversary of Title IX, the landmark statute that has shaped both of our lives in uniquely different but life-altering ways.
We are both female athletes who have benefited from the standards set by Title IX. And while our athletic paths have taken us down different journeys — one of us has coached women’s lacrosse for nearly all of her adult life, while the other had her career upended after being injured in high school by a trans-identified male — we would not be the women we are today without this legal statute.
We also would not be celebrating this Women’s Sports Week and Title IX anniversary in the same way without the work of the Trump administration to codify and preserve the original intent of this law and the meaning of the word “woman.”
Just last year, we traveled coast to coast on the “Our Bodies, Our Sports” bus tour calling on the Biden administration and leaders from around the country to take a stand in defending women’s safety, opportunity, and equal play by protecting and preserving Title IX. The Biden Education Department’s re-write of Title IX would have completely stripped female athletics of the very heart of what they were about: women and girls.
Thankfully, this year we’re rallying under very different circumstances because we finally have an administration that knows what a woman is and isn’t afraid to stand up for the true intended beneficiaries of Title IX: women and girls.
However, the fight to protect female athletes at all levels of competition isn’t over. As long as states like California, Washington, and Maine continue to allow the invasion of women’s sports, women will be at risk. We have both seen firsthand what happens when we allow males to compete in single-sex sports. Indeed, one of us will have to live with the physical consequences of this disastrous policy for the rest of her life due to an injury caused by a trans-identified male.
States that refuse to change course on this issue and continue to push an agenda that is at odds with public opinion and biological reality must be held accountable. To that end, the Trump administration is right to launch investigations into states that refuse to comply with Title IX and protect female athletes. But ultimately this issue can only be permanently resolved by the American people—by electing officials who will stand up for and legislate according to common sense.
We’ve seen tremendous progress on this front at the state level, with 28 states passing laws to protect women’s sports in just the past couple of years. The U.S. House of Representatives also took action earlier this year, passing the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
This week is an opportunity to celebrate those victories—even as we look toward the continued fight ahead. This is a battle we intend to see through to the end, and we know that the American people, biological reality, and the rule of law are on our side.
Kim Russell is an Independent Women’s Forum ambassador and the former head women’s lacrosse coach at Oberlin College. Payton McNabb is an Independent Women’s Forum ambassador and a former North Carolina high school volleyball player.
