Malliotakis, NYC GOP Councilwomen Applaud House Passage of Legislation to Protect Women's Sports

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Today Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) and New York City Republican Councilwomen Inna Vernikov, Joann Ariola, and Vickie Paladino applauded the House's passage of H.R. 734, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, which protects women's sports across the country by ensuring biological men who identify as women aren't unfairly participating in athletic programs designed for women.

Since Title IX was enacted 50 years ago, female participation in high school sports has increased 1,057 percent and 614 percent at the post-secondary level. Later this year, the Biden Administration is planning to finalize regulations to amend Title IX, likely forcing schools to allow biological males to compete in women's sports. Currently, less than half of states have policies in place to protect the integrity of women's athletic competitions.

"Simply put, the Biden Administration's attempts to pass policies that allow biological men to compete in women's sports is unfair, antithetical to science, and puts female athletes across the country at a severe disadvantage," Malliotakis said. "Women have worked hard to gain equal recognition and opportunities in sports; we should be working to further their progress, not erase their existence. I'm proud to join my colleagues in voting to pass this legislation today to ensure every female athlete has an equal opportunity to reach their full potential."

"I am thrilled to see Congress act decisively in passing legislation to protect sports for women and girls all over our country," Councilwoman Inna Vernikov said. "The Biden administration’s shameful hypocrisy and pandering is detrimental to female athletes’ rights to both fair competition and privacy. BIOLOGICAL MEN must stay out of Women’s sports!"

"For three years, we’ve been told again and again to ‘trust the science.’ Well, the science here is very clear: there are distinct physical differences between biological males and biological females, and those differences give biologically male athletes an advantage when it comes to competitive sports," Councilwoman Joann Ariola said. "If we want to ensure that biological females can effectively compete in women’s sports, we need to take a stand against the unfair policies that are being pushed by the current administration. That’s why I’m proud to stand alongside my colleagues and oppose any legislation that would denigrate the hard work and effort of female athletes across the country."

"Finally some common sense has returned to the House," Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said. "I applaud Rep. Malliotakis and our GOP majority on this effort, and hope this is just the first step in undoing the radicalism we’ve seen over the last few years. Protecting women and girls in sports from an unscientific and deeply disturbing political push to deny biological reality is one of the most important fights of our lifetime and I’m proud to stand with my colleagues on the front lines of this issue."

Specifically, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act:

• States sex in the athletic context must be recognized based only on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
• Clarifies that a recipient of federal education funding violates Title IX's prohibition against sex discrimination if the recipient operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic activities and allows a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program designated for women or girls.
• Does not prohibit schools or institutions from permitting males to practice against women's sports teams, protecting the long-standing routine of some women's athletic programs of practicing or scrimmaging against males.