Democrats have lost their way on women’s sports – and here's the political price they'll pay
Democratic voters have made up their minds on this issue of biological men in women's sports
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There’s an adage that says when you’re stuck in a hole, stop digging.
When Congress convened for a new session this year, Democrats were handed an opportunity to dig out of the ditch of opposing the commonsense position that girls’ sports are for girls only.
Decisive voter sentiment was the moment to change course and embrace a straightforward bill, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, clarifying the intent of Title IX.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Donald Trump signed the "No Men in Women's Sports" executive oder on Feb. 5, 2025. (AP/IMAGN)
But they were too proud to admit they’d been wrong, so they kept digging.
It’s driving Democratic tennis great Martina Navratilova crazy. It’s driving Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to change his tune. And it could very well drive 2026 congressional maps to favor Republicans.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Instead of respecting the polls showing popular opinion strongly in favor of keeping trans-identifying men out of women’s sports, Capitol Hill Democrats have dug in their heels refusing to change course.
Their obstruction is not convincing. During floor debate in January, House Democrats displayed posters screaming "Child Predator Bill." They warned it would empower sexual predators to conduct "genital inspections," apparently because pediatricians are incapable of recording a student’s sex on a routine physical exam.
Their alarmist strategy opposing a straightforward bill to define female athletes for the purpose of enforcing equal opportunity under Title IX fell flat. One news outlet featured a loyal Democrat announcing the ridiculous spin tactics over this bill were his last straw.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Following House passage of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act (only two Democrats bucked the party line), the New York Times released a poll indicating 79% of Americans favored keeping men out of women’s sports, including a whopping 67% of self-identified Democrats.
I’M A RUNNER AND I KNOW THE RACE TO SAVE WOMEN’S SPORTS HAS STARTED OFF GREAT
That kind of majority support across the partisan aisle is unheard of these days. Some Democratic lawmakers in states like Georgia, Michigan and New Jersey have heard the message and sided with Republicans on similar bills.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But not in the U.S. Senate. Instead of taking the national consensus as a cue to dig out of their trap, Senate Democrats obstructed again. This time, desperate to sound more reasonable, they filibustered a vote in March with a misleading trope about "trusting our states, leagues and localities."
This argument is another charade deceiving the public about federal liability under Title IX.
Any elected official should know that Title IX is a federal civil rights law. Its mandate prohibiting sex discrimination is not a question of "federalism," leaving others to decide the rules.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}States, localities and school sports leagues aren’t authorized by federal law to make up independent, arbitrary rules about eligibility in sports based on sex. They don’t have that option. And it makes sense; biology doesn’t change based on where you live.
WILL DEMOCRATS STAND UP FOR WOMEN OR LET MEN DESTROY GIRLS’ SPORTS?
Federal law is not a capricious business. That’s why Biden’s Title IX rewrite making "gender identity" the new sex was thrown out in federal court.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Title IX’s standard of equal opportunity in athletics on the basis of sex, male and female, is not for locals or leagues to decide. It’s not optional for any educational entity that receives federal funds.
No Democratic argument against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act is defensible for commonsense rank-and-file voters. Obstruction only exposes the inescapable conflict of trans ideology: denying protections for women as women so men can be "women."
It didn’t happen yesterday. In 2013, President Barack Obama signed a Democratic rewrite of the Violence Against Women Act that redefined sex to include "gender identity." The result was to give men identifying as women access to women’s shelters, stripping women of protections from predators. It’s the moment Democrats legally forfeited the mantle of defending women as women, throwing our safety and privacy on the basis of sex to the wolves.
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Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., exemplifies the liberal hypocrisy on women’s rights. At a recent hearing, Trahan, a former NCAA Division I athlete, expressed concern about the fairness of Name, Image, and Likeness settlements for college women's sports.
But Trahan had just voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. She rejected protecting fairness for female athletes from trans inclusion just like other hypocrites who say they support female athletes but side with male swimmer Lia Thomas invading women’s sports and spaces.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Newsom might have made news by breaking from the party line, but talk is cheap. He has plenty to do to stop unfair competition in California as high school males dominate the court and steal titles in girls’ sports.
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Democrats have embraced a losing strategy on protecting women’s sports, guaranteeing Republicans another chance to make the issue a defining one in the next election. Democratic voters have made up their minds. They don’t like male bodies elbowing their way on female teams and atop women’s podiums.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Elections will continue to fall on the same year as the Olympics – a constant reminder to voters that women’s sports should be for women only.