Congress enacted Title IX in 1972 to prohibit sex-based discrimination in education. This legislation is crucial for ensuring that female students have equal access to opportunities on campus, athletic and otherwise. As a former NCAA Division I swimmer, I recognize that the privilege I worked incredibly hard for was only made possible through Title IX. I gave up countless Christmas holidays, weekends, and social events so that I could practice 20 hours each week and eventually swim on a DI team.
However, the Biden-Harris administration made revisions to Title IX this spring that upend sex-based protections in favor of “gender identity,” effectively undoing years of progress. The Department of Education clearly didn’t care about the 150,000 comments submitted earlier this year in response to its proposed regulation.
This reinterpretation has significant implications for sports as it challenges the traditional understanding of girls’ sports under Title IX. The Biden-Harris administration has asserted that male students who identify as females should be allowed to participate in women’s athletics, disregarding the inherent physical advantages that male athletes possess over their female counterparts. This unbelievable position will result in female college athletes missing out on opportunities, scholarships, and more.
Fortunately, the Title IX rewrite will likely be short-lived, given that the Independent Women’s Law Center and others are challenging the rule in court. That makes policies at the state level extremely relevant.
And sure enough, women’s rights are being threatened in my own backyard in New York by Proposal 1, on the ballot this Election Day.
I’ll admit when I first read Proposal 1, it sounded fine. No one likes discrimination, and it looks like a basic nondiscrimination measure. But that’s not the case. If Proposal 1 passes, nondiscrimination based on biological sex will be redefined to require treating people on the basis of their “gender identity” or “gender expression,” opening the door for males to invade female-only spaces, including in girls’ and women’s sports, locker rooms, prisons, and domestic abuse shelters. It would strip New York girls and women such as myself of their privacy, safety, opportunities, and scholarships.
Proposal 1 is one of the most radically anti-woman proposals put forth in a state so far. It would effectively erase women’s sex-based rights in New York.
I experienced firsthand the privacy and safety concerns for female students when male students are given access to women’s spaces. I was forced to change in the locker room alongside Lia Thomas, a trans-identifying male swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania. As UPenn swimmers, my teammates and I undressed alongside Thomas 18 times a week.
It’s not “harassment” or “discrimination” to say I was uncomfortable — as a survivor of sexual assault, I found it traumatic. Beyond being silenced and intimidated by UPenn, my teammates and I were offered psychological counseling services and reeducation when we expressed our concerns about changing in front of Thomas.
If Proposal 1 passes, my experience at UPenn could be the reality for the over 186,000 female athletes in New York. Females could be subjected to disciplinary action for voicing discomfort in being forced to share locker rooms and showers with males.
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Years after my experience at UPenn, now living in New York, I won’t stop fighting for the preservation and integrity of women’s sports, spaces, and opportunities. It’s why I’m saying no to Proposal 1 and encourage you to do so as well. For the sake of the over 10 million females in New York, I won’t back down.
New York’s Proposal 1 undermines the original purpose of Title IX and threatens women’s rights across the country. Instead of using Proposal 1 as a Trojan horse attempt to drive voter turnout in a critical election cycle, lawmakers should focus their efforts on protecting and preserving women-only spaces and opportunities.
Paula Scanlan is a legislative liaison at Independent Women’s Voice and a former swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a teammate of Lia Thomas.