Dear John, 

 This weekend, women’s sports won big with two very important actions by the state and federal government! The Biden administration and NCAA are going to be held responsible for their colossal failure to protect women in sports. On December 20th, the Biden administration withdrew its erroneous, proposed rule that would have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. The rule being withdrawn was proposed in April 2023 after thousands of Americans spoke out with public comments after Biden’s initial rule to rewrite Title IX to have “sex” include gender identity. The rule would have placed the burden on the female athlete to prove that a man was in her sport and prove why that was unfair. The Biden administration withdrew this rule because they continue to receive ongoing litigation regarding their treatment of female athletes. You may recall that the Biden administration has waged war on women with their gender identity agenda from the beginning of his term with his erroneous rewrite of Title IX. Texas was able to successfully stop Biden’s Title IX from going into effect this school year in Texas public schools. 

Last night, Texas delivered another win for female athletes when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for allowing men to compete in women’s sports. AG Paxton is suing the NCAA under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act for engaging in false and deceptive practices for marketing women’s sporting events that ultimately allowed men to compete in those women sporting events.

Director of Government Relations, Mary Elizabeth Castle for Texas Values said,

“The bad decisions of the federal government and the NCAA are coming back home to roost. It was always a bad policy to deny women and girls their rights to fair play, guaranteed by Title IX; and safety in private, vulnerable spaces. Now that the Biden administration has backed down, the NCAA should follow suit. Women deserve an opportunity to win and feel safe in their sports – it’s their civil right!”

Over the weekend, nationally recognized leader in the Save Women’s Sports movement, Riley Gaines, tweeted about AG Paxton’s lawsuit. 

 At the Turning Point USA conference this weekend, President-elect Donald Trump commented that he will “keep men out of women’s sports”, joking that it could be a priority accomplished within the first 3 days of his administration. Click here to watch Trump's speech about this. 

 President-elect Donald Trump, who was endorsed by Texas Values Action, made several promises during his campaign that he would stop men from competing in women’s sports. 

Texas Values was the leading organization in Texas to help pass both laws HB 23 and SB 15 to protect girls in K-12 athletics and college sports from men competing in their sports. Texas Values also stood with Riley Gaines, ICONS, and Independent Women’s Forum to protest at the NCAA convention in San Antonio, Texas in January 2023. Next month marks two years since the protest and the NCAA has still not taken a stand to protect women's sports.

But the work is not over! Our Texas women and girls still need protection in the locker room and restroom. Many other spaces that have been reserved for females are being attacked. Our team will continue to work in the upcoming legislative session to help women and girls protect their sports and their spaces. But we cannot do this work without your help! We have a $125,000 matching grant in place until December 31st.