Do Arizona Candidates Stand With Women?
By Riley Gaines and Sami Keddington |
By now, my story is pretty well-known. I (Riley Gaines) swam against Lia Thomas (who had previously competed on Penn’s men’s team before switching to the women’s team) in the spring of 2022, and we tied for fifth place. Officials told me Thomas needed to hold the trophy for “photo purposes” and that they would mail me mine. What a degrading way to finish my swimming career.
Thomas made headlines early this year after suing World Aquatics (and losing) in hopes to compete as a woman in the 2024 Paris Olympics. World Aquatics, understanding that testosterone suppression doesn’t eliminate male athletic advantage, prohibits individuals who have gone through male puberty from competing in women’s events.
If Thomas would have been allowed to compete as a woman, it’s very possible that the women’s Olympics might have had a different outcome. Thomas had the fastest time in the nation in the women’s 500 freestyle in 2022. And, as we’ve seen in various sports across the nation and the world, over 500 medals, honors, and trophies meant for women have gone to males who identify as such. This is demeaning and discouraging at best.
That’s exactly what Title IX protects against. Under the Title IX Congress passed 52 years ago, women were promised equal opportunities, including in athletics, in an educational program (like high school and college) that accepts federal money, even indirectly.
But radical and illegal interpretations of Title IX say it doesn’t protect women, but rather subordinates women to males who identify as women. The Biden-Harris administration released a controversial revision in April (in effect as of August 1), unilaterally rewriting the landmark sex equality law. This is a dangerous game to play. Several states have challenged the law and preserved single-sex sports in their states. Arizona is not one of them, thanks to Democrats in charge deciding to support the Biden-Harris regime.
Not only did Arizona leaders fail to sue, but Congress had a chance to undo the Biden-Harris Title IX revisions. A Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution was introduced and voted on by the House to overturn this rewrite, but the Senate failed to act.
U.S. Congressman Ruben Gallego (AZ-3), now running for a hotly-contested Senate seat in Arizona, was one of 205 Democratic members of Congress who voted not to protect women’s sports, signaling his disdain for the integrity of women’s spaces.
As both of us have said before, the allowance of men in women’s sports is discrimination at the highest level. I (Sami) played women’s disc golf professionally since 2012 and recently stepped down so that I could join the fight for women’s rights.
This is truly one of the top civil rights issues of our time, and so much is at stake.
It’s not just sports that are affected, either. Across the country, we’ve seen males dominate women’s prisons, sororities, locker rooms, and other intimate spaces. This is nothing less than the attempted erasure of women.
This year, the Arizona legislature passed the “Arizona Women’s Bill of Rights” to codify common sense definitions of sex-based terms, such as “woman,” “man,” “female,” and “male.” Sadly, it was vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs.
Time and time again, elected officials on the federal and state levels have signaled that they do not stand with women. And we’ve had enough.
That’s why I created the Riley Gaines Stand With Women Scorecard with Independent Women’s Voice. This first-of-its-kind resource scores every candidate for federal office on whether they stand with women and promise “to uphold legislation that preserves female opportunities and private spaces.”
Senate Candidate Kari Lake, for instance, signed the Stand With Women Commitment, making her the only Arizona Senate candidate to be Riley Gaines-Approved.
As former athletes, we desperately hope the next generation of girls have the same opportunities we had to compete and win, with privacy and safety in mind. The integrity of women’s spaces hangs in the balance. Do your leaders stand with women? Visit the scorecard to find out.
Riley Gaines is an ambassador with Independent Women’s Voice and a former 12x All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky. She is the host of “Gaines for Girls” on OutKick and author of Swimming Against the Current: Fighting for Common Sense in a World That’s Lost its Mind. Sami Keddington is the Chandler, Arizona, Chapter leader of Independent Women’s Network and a former professional disc golfer.