Women’s Sports Policy Working Group Launches with Goal to ‘Protect’
Co-sponsors Champion Women and the Duke Center for Sports Law & Policy have announced the official launch of the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group, which will “protect girls’ and women’s sports and accommodate transgender athletes.”
Victory Lap!
Right out of the gate, the Group has created a briefing book, titled A Request to Congress and the Administration to Preserve Girls’ and Women’s Sport & Accommodate Transgender Athletes, which examines the issue and provides science-based, ethical recommendations for policymakers.
Members include:
- Olympic gold medalist swimmer Donna de Varona, former President, Women’s Sports Foundation, USOPC Board of Directors
- International Tennis Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova, 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, 31 major doubles titles and 10 major mixed doubles titles
- Olympic gold medalist swimmer Nancy Hogshead-Makar, J.D., CEO of Champion Women, former President, Women’s Sports Foundation
- Donna Lopiano, Ph.D., former CEO, Women’s Sports Foundation, President, The Drake Group, National Softball Hall of Fame
- Tracy Sundlun, Founding Board member, National Scholastic Athletics Foundation, six-time Olympic coach and manager, Running USA Hall of Champions
- Doriane Coleman, J.D., Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Sports Law & Policy at Duke Law School, U.S. collegiate national champion and two-time Swiss national champion in the 800 meters
The Group issued the following statement:
“The uncompromising vitriol in public conversations regarding the participation of transgender girls and women in girls’ and women’s sports is unacceptable. One side insists that transgender girls are ‘boys’ and seeks to ban them without regard to their physical sex-linked traits.
Ten states have passed such laws and there are three federal bills proposing the same. The other side insists that transgender girls are ‘girls, period’ and seeks their full and unconditional inclusion, again without regard to their physical sex-linked traits. Seventeen states have adopted this approach and the Biden Administration has suggested that it may be considering doing the same.
Both extremes ignore the reasons we have sex-segregated sports, and both are unnecessarily discriminatory. The first unnecessarily discriminates against all transgender women and girls. The second discriminates against biological females in a space that was designed specifically to secure and protect their opportunities.
All girls, whether they are transgender or not, have a place within a fair, safe and respectful women’s sports environment. We ask the Biden Administration and Congress to reject ‘either/or’ positions and instead to adopt an ethical, science-based approach to the protection of girls’ and women’s sport.”
For more information, please visit WomensSportsPolicy.org.