Women’s spaces continue to be ruthlessly invaded…and we will not stand for it.                                                                        
Friend,
As sisters and swimmers, it is devastating to see how men are so easily being accepted into female-only spaces. Women are being told to move over and deal with it and if we question it we are the problem.

Our family has experienced not one but two scenarios where we have encountered a male in our women’s-only private spaces. Our dignity stripped, our privacy sacrificed, and our safety seized in order to protect biological males’ feelings and “inclusion” into our designated areas and events.
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Earlier this month our family joined Independent Women’s Forum in our hometown for a press conference to break our silence and share our stories.
* Kaitlynn: As a former NCAA DI swimmer from the University of Kentucky and friend and teammate of Riley Gaines, I was one of the many girls who competed at the 2022 NCAA National Championships and was forced to change in the same space as a biological man. I was carrying away with my teammates when the entire women’s locker room suddenly went silent. You could have heard a needle drop. I was shocked to turn around and find a 6’4” fully-intact male Lia Thomas changing among us. We weren’t forewarned, and we did not give our consent. Fast forward one year, I received a phone call from my little sister, Abbigail, who further explained to me that she was faced with a similar situation. It is then when I realized something must be done.

* Abbigail: I'm a 16-years-old competitive club team swimmer who practiced at least six times a week at the YMCA – until I was booted for speaking up about the Y permitting a biological male in our female-only changing space. My middle and high-school teammates and I noticed an alarming trend of a man dressing and undressing in the women’s locker room. At one point, I witnessed the man dressed in a woman's bathing suit sitting on a chair watching, while my teammates and I were changing. I was extremely uncomfortable and felt that my privacy was stripped away. I told my coach about the situation thinking surely he would help stop the man from accessing the women’s private space…but it kept happening. They did nothing.
I decided that if my feelings weren’t validated, I’d make them known myself. I created several posters and put them up in the changing space — ”Women’s Space,” “Biological Women Only,” “Safe Sport,” and others. My coach, the person you would expect to protect and speak up for us, ended up kicking me off of the team and both my coach and the YMCA deemed our signs as “hate speech” and discriminatory.

We are thankful Independent Women's Forum joined us in calling on the YMCA to revise their rules and keep women’s locker rooms female.

We are encouraging more female athletes, coaches, and families to join us in speaking up for our rights and for fairness.
PROTECT WOMEN’S SPORTS ([link removed])
Women are sick and tired of being told that we are the problems and we must conform. We simply want our women’s-only spaces back, our dignity protected, our right to fair and equal athletic opportunities returned, and to feel comfortable in our locker rooms. This is not too much to ask.

There are actions you can take to continue to drive this movement forward and to stand up for young women like us. We are sharing our stories so no female athletes coming behind us have a similar story. If you have a story too, share it here ([link removed]) .

Join us in signing the female athletes' open letter to athletic associations, policy makers, and government officials to preserve women’s sports. ([link removed])
SIGN YOUR NAME ([link removed])
Yours in the fight,
Kaitlynn and Abbigail Wheeler
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