WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Marsha Blackburn and 21 of their Republican colleagues in sending a letter urging National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) President Charlie Baker to update their student-athlete policy to ensure only biologically female students can participate in women’s sports.

Joining Senators Scott and Blackburn on the letter are Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), John Thune (R-S.D.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

The senators wrote, “Amid the Biden-Harris administration’s unprecedented assault on Title IX, we write to urge the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to update your student-athlete participation policy to require that only biologically female students participate in women’s sports. The 2024 Summer Olympics are upon us, and the NCAA has boasted about its athletes’ participation. Yet the NCAA has still taken no steps to protecting a critical portion of these athletes. Several organizations—including the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport—in addition to more than 20 states, have acted recently to protect women’s sports. We urge the NCAA to follow suit and take similar action to promote fair play.”

Click here to view the full letter.

This letter has been endorsed by Riley Gaines, Concerned Women for America, Heritage Action, the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, Independent Women's Forum, the Independent Women's Law Center, Champion Women, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and the Our Bodies, Our Sports Coalition.

Riley Gaines, 12x NCAA All-American swimmer, said, “In conjunction with the Biden-Harris administration, the NCAA has turned their back on women by disregarding Title IX and its original intent. It's unfair, it's unsafe, and it's discriminatory. I’m grateful to Senator Blackburn and every Senator who has joined this effort to fight for our rights to equal opportunity, privacy, and safety. This is the civil rights issue of our time.” 

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, the nation's largest public policy organization for women, said, “Men and women are different. Period. Title IX was implemented because of that reality, in order to give women the same opportunities in sports as their male counterparts. But now those opportunities are being ripped away from them because of men who are identifying as female and organizations like the NCAA who are allowing them to compete against women. The NCAA says it supports its female athletes - it's time that those words were followed by actions.” 

Ryan Walker, Executive Vice President, Heritage Action, said, “Men do not belong in women’s sports. This obvious truth is based in science and backed by the vast majority of Americans. By giving men access to women’s spaces and teams, the NCAA is violating its responsibility to protect student athletes from unsafe, unfair competition. The integrity of college sports hinges on the NCAA’s resolve to do the right thing and put the rights of female athletes above political pandering.”

Marshi Smith & Kim Jones, Co-Founders, Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), said, “The infiltration of men in women’s sports is an attack on the fundamental principles of fair and ethical competition. ICONS stands fully behind Senator Blackburn’s letter and calls on the NCAA to follow the lead of the NAIA by taking immediate and decisive action to protect the rights of female athletes.”

Carrie Lukas, President/Independent Women's Forum and May Mailman, Director/Independent Women's Law Center, said, “The NCAA touts its Emerging Sports For Women Program and other programs meant to encourage female athletes' achievements, all while embracing policies that continue to erase them. The NCAA has rejected pleas from more than 7,000 NCAA athletes, and demands from women’s rights organizations, feminist organizations, sports organizations, female Olympians and lawyers urging the NCAA to take immediate action to repeal its discriminatory policy that allows male athletes to compete in women’s sports — taking trophies, roster sports, playing time, resources, and opportunities to compete from women and girls. Independent Women's Forum and Independent Women's Law Center are grateful for members of Congress who know this is unjust and are asking the NCAA to do the right thing.”

Nancy Hogshead, J.D., OLY, Founder and CEO, Champion Women, said, “I was at the NCAA meeting when Pat Griffin and Helen Carroll presented their transgender inclusion policy for adoption. We were told that one year of cross-sex hormones would remove male-advantage from men who wanted to compete with women. We were assured that the science was conclusive. Years later, we now know that the science that the NCAA relied on was wrong, and that newer research shows that no amount of hormones or surgery can roll back male athletic advantage. The NCAA should recognize the now well-established science and change their policy to protect women’s sports.”

Hannah Daniel, Director of Public Policy, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said, “Both our biblical understanding of God’s design for gender and sexuality as well as mounting scientific evidence underscore the necessity of protecting women in sports. When biological realities are ignored, women are the ones who suffer. The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission supports Senator Blackburn’s leadership on this important topic and urges the NCAA to protect the safety and fairness of women’s sports.”

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