“This is an attack on women, and it’s an attack on sports and Title IX.”
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined “The Faulkner Focus” on Fox News to share about his Title IX roundtable with athletes, parents, and coaches about the importance of protecting girls’ and women’s sports. Senator Tuberville was joined by former ESPN Host Sage Steele, who moderated the roundtable discussion earlier this week.
Senator Tuberville has two pieces of legislation, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and the Protection of Women in Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, to stop biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
Excerpts from Senator Tuberville and Steele’s interview can be found below, or you can watch the full interview on YouTube or Rumble.
FAULKNER: “Tuberville has introduced a pair of bills aimed at ensuring fair and safe competition in women’s and girl sports. The legislation would prohibit biological men and boys from competing in female school sports in the United States – the Olympic team is also a part of that. The senator joins me now. So, first of all, give me the gist of how this addresses the fight, the moment that we’re in.”
TUBERVILLE: “Well, first of all Harris, we’ve got to get people together on the same page. We’ve got to get people to understand really what the Democrats and Joe Biden’s administration’s trying to do. This will be a huge topic in the election this year. […] This is an attack on nuclear family, this is an attack on gender, this is an attack on women, and then it’s an attack on sports and Title IX. And we brought people together to try to bring up and highlight the topics of coaches and how they’re handling it, lawyers, how moms are actually handling the situation with their kids, and of course […] other athletes. It’s a huge topic. Where are the activists – the women activists that actually got Title IX implemented 52 years ago? They’re nowhere to be seen. There’s nobody talking about this, but we’re going to bring this to the forefront as you saw in this roundtable. We’re going to continue to do it. We’re going to bring bills to the floor like the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. We’ve got to do something or we’re going to lose Title IX and women’s sports that has really catapulted the last 50 years because of Title IX.”
FAULKNER: “It’s hard to imagine this happening to men’s sports. Like we wouldn’t even put up with ‘We’re going to lose the NBA. We’re going to lose the NFL.’ We would never put up with that. But apparently, we’re willing to lose girls’ and women’s sports. You mentioned those women who fought for this 52 years ago – what about their young daughters who no doubt have grown up and been athletes along the way and benefited from Title IX? Where are all of those voices? And women are getting hurt, I mean, I listened to a part of your roundtable—I mean, they were talking about the injuries they suffered competing against biological men.”
TUBERVILLE: “Injuries, unfairness, and you’re telling a young woman, ‘You’re going to get to compete, fine, but you’re not going to get to compete for first place. You’re going to compete for third, or fourth, or fifth, just depending on how many men athletes are involved in women’s sports. You know, it’s just something that you can’t put your hands around Why are they doing this? They’re doing it, again, they’re just attacking the nuclear family. The Democrat party doesn’t want any part of the nuclear family. But women’s sports are going to survive because it’s gotten to the point, Harris, that now we have a multitude of new [women’s] sports. You know, softball is skyrocketing, volleyball is one of the most fun sports to watch, […] women’s gymnastics, oh my goodness, especially in college, has really skyrocketed. So, they’re gonna have a tough time breaking this down, but if they put men into it, what’s gonna happen, the young girls are not gonna get involved because parents aren’t gonna let them dress in the same dressing room, shower in the same showers because it is a travesty – when you look at the safety – that the Democrats are pushing on the American people.”
FAULKNER: “And the audience saw my face light up when you said girls’ gymnastics because they know I have a 14-year-old who competes at a high level, and I’m really proud of her. […] Sage, I want to ask you – I know you have professional athletes in your family formerly, and you had a chance to really look at this, not as someone who covers it, but also with your family members. What do you make of this?”
STEELE: “I think we’re all kind of still in shock. And most importantly, the men in my family […] are saying ‘What is going on and why?’ The ‘why’ behind it is something that may be debatable. I remember talking the other day to Coach and him saying to me, ‘There’s no other explanation except something insidious, something evil, that is lurking. I don’t know, because it does not make sense.’ At the end of the day, there is something specifically, intentionally being done to affect women’s sports, to allow this to happen. I think the key for me now is, ‘Fine, we can ask why – what are we going to do about it?’ And it is obvious now that if we stay silent – and unfortunately, the majority of people have – I hate to be dramatic here, Harris – but there will be blood on our hands because this is happening quickly. Another thing I hear from a lot of people – a lot of people in the broadcasting industry, on the sports broadcasting side [is] ‘Yeah, but there’s not that many. The percentages are so small, so why are we making such a big deal of this?’ And that is an ignorant comment, in my opinion. We had a Title IX attorney there on Capitol Hill with us and Coach and the other senators, and she was saying actually when you combine all the sports, there’s been 500 men who have taken trophies away from women. And that’s just the one-on-one. This doesn’t include the domino effect every time.”
FAULKNER: “That’s a big number. […] I’m going to dig in more on that. I didn’t realize that the number was that high. So, this has been cooking for a while then, because it didn’t just happen last week – 500 trophies taken from women. Great to see you both. Senator, we will follow both of your bills. Please keep us posted if something pops. Sage, and Senator Tuberville – great to see you both. God bless. Thank you.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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