A little over a month ago, I stood on the steps of the Supreme Court as it announced its decisions in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox. After nearly seven years of advocacy on this issue, it was gratifying to hear the highest court in the land affirm concerns that had been dismissed for years. The ruling finally gave states the clarity they had been fighting for and released protections for female athletes from the holding cells of courtrooms, including in my home state of Arizona.
That clarity is too hard-won to treat carelessly.
For years, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC) and female athletes like me fought to establish what should have been obvious from the beginning: women deserve athletic opportunities that are fair, safe, and meaningful. Since Idaho passed the first Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in 2020, 26 other states have now acted to protect women’s sports.
The road to 27 was long, unpopular, and then suddenly obvious.
When CWALAC first began lobbying for women’s-only sports laws, we were vilified as “alarmist.” Few people took our concerns seriously. But momentum grew quickly after Idaho State Rep. Barbara Ehardt passed the first-of-its-kind legislation, and the Lia Thomas/NCAA scandal forced the issue into the national conversation.
If one institution should have learned this lesson by now, it is the NCAA. The organization entrusted with governing collegiate athletics repeatedly failed to protect female athletes when it mattered most. Its record should make all of us skeptical that we can simply trust sports institutions to get this right on their own.
That is why the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) deserves serious scrutiny.
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