Beehive State News

U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) took to Twitter on Wednesday to applaud former Division I athlete Riley Gaines for her testimony earlier that day regarding proposed changes to Title IX.

"When you accommodate men time and time again, refusing to accommodate women, we call that misogyny," Lee said in a June 21 tweet.

Gaines, a former Division I swimmer and star athlete at the University of Kentucky, testified during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday about the Biden administration’s proposed amendments to Title IX, which includes transgender issues in schools and colleges.

Title IX is a federal civil rights law overseen by the U.S. Department of Education that was enacted in 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. The department announced the proposed changes to Title IX in April.

According to Fox News, the changes would ensure that no school or college that receives federal funding would be allowed to impose a "one-size-fits-all" policy that categorically bans transgender students from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Such policies would be considered a violation of Title IX.

The June 21 hearing, titled “Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans,” included commentary from both sides of the debate, with Gaines, now a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Voice, offering an emotional testimony to the Senate hearing about how changes are already impacting athletes.          

“Women’s rights to privacy and single-sex spaces and opportunities are being encroached upon — sports, sororities, locker and dorm rooms, shelters and prisons,” Gaines said in her testimony. “Some have tried to tar those of us speaking up for women’s safety, security and opportunities as ‘transphobic’ or ‘bigoted.’ This is untrue. I’ve heard from gay, lesbian and trans-identifying Americans (who) agree females should not be asked to step aside to make room for male-bodied individuals — no matter how they self-identify.”         

Lee's home state is one of 21 states banning boys from playing girls' high school sports, according to an analysis published by the Beehive State News.