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Floor Speech

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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, since coming to Washington 2 years ago, I have learned a lot about the Senate and about how Washington works. Politics can, at times, be like a game. While we may be on different teams politically, we should all be focused on winning for all American people. If there is one thing I know about in my last 40 years as a coach and educator, it is trying to win and how to win.

Fifty years ago, we discovered a winning strategy for all of American female athletes. It was called title IX, probably one of the most successful pieces of legislation that has ever come out of this body. Signed into law in 1972, title IX's 37 words empowered women to win by leveling the playing field and providing them access to the same opportunities as young men.

I believe those words are worth repeating today to remind this body of their importance:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Those sometimes on the left argue that allowing males to compete against females makes sports more inclusive. I don't believe that. The opposite, to me, is true. Forcing females to compete against males destroys the level playing field created by law. It would exclude young women from the safety and fairness that they deserve. Title IX's success would be undone if this continues to happen, and that success that title IX is and has been is undeniable.

Since its enactment, participation in female sports has increased by more than 600 percent. Think about that now. In 50 years, because of title IX, the participation in women's sports has increased 600 percent, and the number of female college graduates in the United States increased dramatically from 8 to 40 percent. You don't see things like that happen. Title IX has afforded many women the opportunity to receive athletic scholarships and become our engineers, our doctors, our lawyers, and our leaders, without the burden of having college debt.

Sadly, title IX is being attacked by activists who care more about politics than what is best for women and girls. The U.S. Department of Education is caving--is giving in--to progressive activists and moving ahead with plans to force schools to allow biological males to share locker rooms and compete in women's sports. This irrational and unprecedented move comes despite record numbers of educators, parents, and athletes who have voiced their concerns about the disastrous impact that this would have on female athletes of all ages.

The Department of Education, President Biden, and my colleagues on the left in Congress have ignored those concerns because they care more about appeasing activists and the progressive left than actually protecting young women. I just can't understand this. It is shameful.

Beginning next year, coaches will be forced to decide between opening up locker rooms to biological males or face dire consequences. Allowing biological males to compete against young women is unfair, it is unsafe, and it is wrong. We can't look Americans in the eye and honestly say we support female athletes if we stand by as they are forced into uncomfortable settings they do not deserve, and we can't tell young women we want them to succeed if we allow the radical left to push them to the sidelines of their sports and take away their future opportunities for scholarships and fair competition. It is not the American way.

If you visited my hometown of Auburn, AL, on a Friday night over the past few months, you would see an arena--thousands of people--full of excited young girls watching the Auburn gymnastics team. Many of them dream of becoming Olympic gymnasts--gymnasts just like Suni Lee, who is an Olympic Gold medalist.

Others make the trip to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa to see the World Games and to see Montana Fouts on the mound, aspiring to one day become a star softball pitcher at a higher level.

Our girls and young women should be able to continue to dream and compete. Taking away their title IX protections by twisting the law could strip those opportunities for female athletes across our great country.

Since 2003, biological men have won 28 women's sports titles. Let me read that again. Since 2003, biological men have won 28 women's sports titles. We have all heard from athletes like Riley Gaines, the college swimmer who, this past year, bravely spoke out after being forced to share a locker room and the awards podium with a swimmer who had the unfair advantage of swimming in a male body.

Over the weekend, we learned that a judge in Minnesota has ordered the U.S.A. power lifting teams to allow biological men to compete against female power lifters.

Where will this end? When will we step up and say enough is enough? Congress must act to save title IX and make sure competition is safe and fair for everyone, including girls and women. This is why, last week, I reintroduced the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. This legislation would require institutions to recognize an athlete's gender solely based on what it is at birth or else be banned from receiving Federal funding.

You know, it sounds absurd even to me to say, but, sadly, this legislation is now necessary to preserve title IX for current and future female athletes. It is really sad.

I am thankful for those colleagues here in the Senate who have joined me in standing up for women's sports, and I hope that others will join our efforts in the future.

We have to save title IX. We have to save young girls and women to be able to participate on the same level, with the same funding and access to coaches, as men. Millions of young girls and women are looking to us in this body and to the people across this country, looking to us to stand up for them and that starts with action to ensure that the playing field remains level for generations and generations to come.

This Senate must take up this crucial legislation and help every young woman and young girl in this great country that we live in.

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