A recent report by Concerned Women for America (CWA) found that over 1,941 women and girls have had to settle for silver in favor of trans-identifying males in the U.S.
Using data dating back to the 1980s, the conservative women’s organization found that biological males have competed in more than 10,000 women’s sports events, claimed over $493,000 in prize money, and displaced nearly 2,000 rightful first-place winners across collegiate and professional athletics.
One of those displaced athletes was the University of Virginia’s Emma Weyant. At the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, Weyant placed second in the 500-yard freestyle behind Lia Thomas, a biological male who also tied with Riley Gaines for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle that same day. Thomas was crowned national champion, but only because Weyant was forced to compete against a biological male who has an undeniable physical advantage.
[RELATED: Texas State University Professor Told My Class ‘We’re Not Born With a Sex,’ It’s Assigned]
Weyant’s performance in that meet wasn’t the problem—who she was forced to race against was. And her later achievements proved it. In competitions that rightly segregate by biological sex, Weyant excelled. She went on to win, for example, two Olympic medals, while Thomas—disqualified from elite women’s events by World Aquatics—saw his swimming career end at UPenn.
Weyant’s story, like Gaines’s, is just one chapter in a much larger, unjust pattern.
Minna Svärd left behind her family, her homeland, and everything familiar for a shot at collegiate glory—only to watch a gold medal slip away to a biological male, CeCe Telfer. After saying nothing of the experience for years, the subjugated Swede broke her silence this year, telling Fox News in March that she wants her “stolen” title back. “I never thought that an organization like the NCAA would actually allow that to happen,” she stated. “They absolutely need to be held accountable for what they are allowing female athletes to go through.”
Gaines, Weyant, and Svärd were all high-profile examples of women who lost out on gold medals and top placements to biological males. But they are three of nearly 2,000 women and girls who were all told the same thing: that their athletic achievement is worth less than a man’s feelings. Devastatingly, hundreds of other women and girls have withered away into obscurity, their titles permanently stolen with no retribution.
Donald Trump’s second term has, without question, brought a sweeping crackdown on the NCAA and renewed enforcement of Title IX.
In February, the NCAA issued a revised policy barring biological males from competing on women’s teams, though it still allows them to practice with women and access shared athletic facilities.
Much of the momentum behind this shift can be credited to Riley Gaines. After tying with Thomas and being denied the fifth-place trophy for the sake of photo ops, Riley Gaines emerged as a national advocate for fairness in women’s sports. Her activism helped drive public and political pressure, ultimately leading to a major reversal at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).
Last month, in response to a Department of Education investigation into its Title IX compliance, UPenn issued a statement acknowledging gender as binary, apologizing to female athletes who were forced to compete against Thomas, and committing to update women’s swimming records to reflect biologically accurate title-holders.
Despite this shift, however, a bigger problem looms large: there is still no legal definition of sex, whether as a binary reality or a social construct. This absence has led to a political back-and-forth between administrations over transgender participation in athletics. Without a concrete definition, the meaning of sex—and the future of millions of female athletes—could shift with each presidential term.
This must change.
[RELATED: Lia Thomas’s Records Removed Following Federal Title IX Investigation at UPenn]
It is imperative that the definition of sex as a binary, scientifically based fact is permanently enshrined in law. While no legislation of this kind has been officially presented, the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies’s model law, RESPECT Title IX Act, is a good template.
It would “codify into law that sex is biological and binary,” the co-author Paul Zimmerman told me. “It would require federally funded schools, colleges, and universities in every state to allow only biological women to compete in women’s sports and access women’s locker rooms.”
Most importantly, “the RESPECT Title IX Act would stop school officials, as well as federal and state bureaucrats, from trampling on students’ Title IX rights”–for good!
The nearly 2,000 women and girls who have been forced to relinquish gold medals to biological men may never see their honor, victory, or titles restored, but we can, and must, ensure this staggering figure goes no higher.
Image: “Wingate Institute Competition Pool, World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships 2023” by Nationhillmedia on Wikimedia Commons
