Joni Ernst: For our daughters.

Iowa has a celebrated history of exceptional girls’ sports programs. We just saw the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team take home their fifth Big Ten Tournament title, days after cheering on the high school girls competing in the state tournament. Last year, the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union proudly sanctioned girls wrestling, opening up new opportunities for girls to be part of a team and recognized for their achievements. Title IX not only makes these events possible, but it guarantees an opportunity for our female athletes.

Whether it’s growing as a young leader, winning a championship, or securing a scholarship to college, sports open doors for young girls. And folks, these doors shouldn’t be slammed shut because of the progressive left’s gender ideology. 

In May, President Biden intends to force institutions to allow biological males to share spaces with females and compete in women’s sports. Girls’ locker rooms have now become a battleground for the left, and parents continue to be iced out of this issue.

Thankfully, last year, Governor Reynolds protected girls’ sports across our state, from elementary school all the way up to the collegiate level. At the federal level, I joined my colleagues in supporting The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Under this legislation, any athletic program that receives federal funds and permits a biological male to participate in competitions designated for women or girls would violate federal law.

Title IX is the law of the land, whether the far left likes it or not. The law was created to offer the same playing field to female athletes as their male counterparts — not to subject women to second place and the sidelines. Every time a girl steps onto the mat, court, field, or track she should know she has every opportunity to compete and win. In defense of our Iowa daughters and female athletes across the nation, I will not stop fighting to pass this commonsense bill.

Joni Ernst, a native of Red Oak and a combat veteran, represents Iowa in the United States Senate.