Women remain strongest gender ideology advocates, data show

The head of a major women’s group suggested at a congressional hearing Tuesday that girls should “learn to lose gracefully” to boys who claim to be girls.

National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) President and CEO Fatima Goss Graves made the remarks while testifying before the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services during a hearing titled “The Importance of Protecting Female Athletics and Title IX.”

“Trans students participate in sports for the same reasons as [other] kids,” Graves said. “Because it is fun, because it creates belonging, community, because it teaches so much about persistence, leadership and discipline, and last, they learn to lose gracefully, hopefully, and often, win with dignity hopefully.”

“We at NWLC know unequivocally that trans women and girls, and intersex women and girls, are women and girls who deserve the full benefits and opportunities intended by Title IX,” Graves added.

Title IX is a federal law which prohibits sex-based discrimination in institutions funded by the federal government. Controversy over the law erupted earlier this year when the Department of Education issued a proposal in April to ban schools from keeping men out of women’s sports.

In response, half of US governors signed a letter demanding the Biden administration withdraw or delay its proposal. Twenty-two out of the twenty-five governors were men. The three female governors who signed the letter — Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem — are the only Republicans out of 12 female governors in the US.

These and other reports suggest that women — particularly those in power — are fueling gender ideology in the US and attacking women who oppose it.

At Tuesday’s hearing the committee also heard from Riley Gaines, a swimming champion who tied for fifth place in the NCAA freestyle championship with a man calling himself “Lia” Thomas and claiming to be a woman. Since then, Gaines has become a vocal advocate against gender ideology and has campaigned against men competing in women’s sports.

But it was a female lawmaker who attacked Gaines for her views during the hearing. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) said Gaines was “transphobic” for opposing men in women’s sports. When Gaines hit back and called Lee a misogynist, Lee tried to have the athlete’s remarks erased from the record.

The sustenance for gender ideology is not only coming from women in positions of power, however.

Gaines appears to belong to a minority of women who oppose gender ideology. According to a Pew Research poll last year, 62% of women feel “there is a great deal or a fair amount of discrimination against transgender people.” Only 52% of men agree. Women are also more likely than men to say it is “extremely or very important” to use a person’s “new” name or “preferred pronouns.” 

Further surveys conducted in other “democracies” such as Australia, England, and Canada have also found that the majority of women athletes support men competing in women’s sports and do not believe males hold an “unfair advantage” against females. Most men strongly disagree.

When “Lia” Thomas was competing in the NCAA championship for University of Pennsylvania, the university’s administration — headed by President Elizabeth Magill — ordered the team not to speak to the media about his participation, said a former teammate.

For its part, the NCAA welcomes men on women’s teams if they have undergone hormone replacement therapy and submit their testosterone levels. While most of the NCAA’s leadership is male, those in charge of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” which covers men’s participation in women’s sports, are women — Senior Vice President of Inclusion, Education & Community Engagement Felicia Martin and Vice President of Human Resources Kim Oren.

Furthermore, ten out of 16 members of the NCAA’s Board of Governors, responsible for adopting such policies, are women. Of the seven voting members, five are women. 

When EWTN White House Correspondent Owen Jensen in June asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about parents concerned for their daughters’ safety when playing against boys, she attacked him as “irresponsible” for suggesting “transgender kids are dangerous.“

Recent reports by Frontline News suggests that women are capable of stopping totalitarian gender ideology.

Last month a women’s fishing team in the UK forced a policy change that expelled a male member of the team and now requires men to compete separately after half the team refused to compete. The news came shortly after a British women’s soccer team forced out a male competitor by refusing to play the game.