Dear John,
Last week, a 31 year old man, Johnny “Alicia” Paans was expected to be on his way to Texas A&M to compete in a national water polo championship for women at Texas A&M University in College Station. Johnny plays on the women’s club water polo team at the University of Michigan, in a state that does not have laws protecting college women athletes from having men compete against them…The very first match of the championship, held on Friday, May 3, was between Johnny’s University of Michigan team and the women’s water polo team from Texas State University. The University of Michigan may be fine with allowing Johnny “Alicia” to unfairly compete against college women but that is not how we operate in Texas. Texas has full protection for female athletes from kindergarten through college thanks to the Texas legislature passing HB 23 in 2021 and SB 15 in 2023, game-changing new laws and efforts led by Texas Values and supporters like you!
When your Texas Values team was alerted of the possibility of a male athlete coming to Texas very early in the week, we went on offense and we knew we had to make a strong move quick. We posted the breaking story on social media and devised a plan to protect women athletes in Texas. Texas Values sent a letter to the president of Texas A&M, General Mark A. Welsh, to let him know that we were aware of a male athlete coming to his campus to compete against women. We stated that not only were we concerned about fair competition but we were very concerned about the 31-year-old man being in the locker room with female athletes. Sadly, this has not been the first time an issue of female privacy at a Texas university has been made known to us.
On the eve of this competition, while Texas Values Director of Government Relations was prepared to drive to College Station to protest, she received a call from the Young Women for America President for Texas A&M that the University of Michigan decided not to bring Johnny with them to the competition!!!
Big Victory!! Additionally, we learned that Texas A&M was planning to protect the privacy of Texas and national female athletes at this competition.
Laws don’t just protect, they also end the message that you don’t mess with our Texas lady athletes! It is a victory for safety and fairness that the University of Michigan decided not to risk the consequences of bringing their male player to a women’s competition in Texas. This victory sent a message to the rest of the country that you don’t mess with Texas women!
That said, there is still work to be done. While SB 15 helped us massively in this situation, there is still the issue of men being allowed in women’s locker rooms. What if, hypothetically speaking, Johnny sat out the competition only but still decided to show up to shower and walk around nude in the women’s locker room??? That’s why your Texas Values team will be working on legislation like “The Women’s Bill of Rights” and similar policy ideas to address women’s right to privacy, especially now that the Biden Administration has tried to botch Title IX.
Our team shows up when it matters most. We were ready to head down to College Station to make sure this wasn't going to happen. Thankfully, Texas A&M followed state law and put a stop to this before we had to get involved more. Please make a donation today to help us protect women!
