Category

Sexual Exploitation

May 28 2020
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Victory in Women’s Sports Civil Rights Case Carries Warning: Don’t Deny Female Athletes Equal Opportunity

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Washington, D.C. – Concerned Women for America (CWA) applauds the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for taking a significant step in the fight to protect the integrity of women’s sports. The ED Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has correctly ruled that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) and associated schools are in violation of Title IX regulations prohibiting sex discrimination for denying female student-athletes benefits and opportunities in girls’ track by allowing the participation of male students. Among the findings: “CIAC treated students differently based on sex, by denying opportunities and benefits to female student-athletes that were available to male student-athletes.”

CWA filed a similar civil rights complaint at the college level against Franklin Pierce University for unfairly winning a national NCAA title in the 400-meter women’s hurdles with a biological male athlete.  That case is still under investigation by OCR, and we believe a similar action should follow.

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, had this to say:

“Concerned Women for America supporters from around the country have stood at the forefront of the fight to protect equal opportunity in women’s sports.  We applaud the Office for Civil Rights for finally taking action to recognize that female athletes are being denied their rights and that schools are violating the law.

“From middle school sports to the Olympics, our daughter athletes are being bullied by activists and sidelined by silence. They simply want to compete on a level playing field against athletes of their own sex. That is what Title IX achieved for female athletes over 40 years ago.

“The ruling in this case shows just how twisted and off-track women’s sports has become, and it carries a warning for all schools: don’t deny female athletes equal opportunity. CWA urges swift action on our complaint in college sports where the NCAA and member schools continue to trample the rights of female college athletes.

“This is not a left or right issue.  Women and girls, regardless of political persuasion, deserve to have the laws that protect us respected and followed, ensuring equal opportunities and benefits in sports for all female athletes.”

May 20 2020
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Bearing the Burden of Proof: What the 1990’s in the Senate Should Have Taught Joe Biden

By | Blog, Feminist / Women's Issues, Legislative Updates, News and Events, Politics/National Sovereignty, Sexual Exploitation, Social / Cultural Issues | No Comments

CWA’s Vice President of Government Relations Doreen Denny published the following op-ed in Townhall:

“Joe Biden is now bearing the burden of proof from 27-year-old sexual assault allegations from former staffer Tara Reade. Reviewing the lessons members of Congress should have learned in the 1990’s – lessons from the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings to the Contract with America– makes Biden’s tone-deaf denials even more fantastical.

In 1994, midway through President Bill Clinton’s first term, the Contract with America galvanized voters in federal elections with its pledge to make Congress more accountable to the American people. Its success installed a Republican majority in the House and Senate who promised major legislative reforms, the first being to apply all laws to Congress that apply to the rest of the country.

In 1995, as soon as the 104th Congress was sworn in, Republicans went to work to pass the Congressional Accountability Act. To symbolize their high priority for action, it was introduced as H.R. 1 in the House and S. 2 in the Senate. The bill proposed to extend the same workplace protections against discrimination required of the private sector to the legislative branch. Until then, Congress had not been willing or accountable to live under standards they imposed on the rest of American workplaces, including laws against sexual harassment and assault.”

Read Doreen’s Entire Piece Here:

 

May 18 2020
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Judge Who Banned Calling Trans Athletes ‘Male’ Has A History Of Favoring Sexual Predators

By | Blog, CEO, Feminist / Women's Issues, Legislative Updates, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation, Social / Cultural Issues | No Comments

CWA’s CEO and President Penny Young Nance wrote the following op-ed published in The Federalist:

“The year was 2010. President Barack Obama was in office, and Democrats controlled the Senate. Obama could practically get any judge he wanted, but he could not get his nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, Robert Chatigny, confirmed based on Chatigny’s track record of favoring sexual predators over women and children. Now this same judge is prejudicing the case against female athletes by imposing a speech code on their counsel.

Judge Chatigny has a very troubling record. As I wrote at the time, serial killer Michael Ross explained in a documentary how he bound 14-year-old Leslie Shelley, stuffed her in his car trunk, and “took the other [14-year-old] girl, April Brunais, out, and I raped her and killed her, and I put her in the front seat.” Ross said he had killed eight women and girls, ranging in age from 14 to 25, and if he hadn’t been arrested, he would still be killing.

Yet Chatigny said Ross “never should have been convicted.” Chatigny suggested that “sexual sadism is clearly a mitigating factor.” So, according to this judge, sexual sadists deserve less time in prison because they are sick.”

Read Penny’s Entire Piece Here:

May 15 2020
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Penny Nance: Hypocritical Liberals ‘Believe’ Tara Reade, But They Will Vote for Joe Biden Anyway

By | Blog, CEO, Feminist / Women's Issues, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation, Social / Cultural Issues | No Comments

CWA’s CEO and President Penny Young Nance wrote the following op-ed published in The Washington Times.

“Remember when Senate Democrats, Hollywood A listers and their media shills decreed that we must always “believe women?” Well, apparently that’s over now. Tara Reade’s sexual assault accusations against Vice President Joe Biden have forced them to change the narrative exposing what we always knew was a cynical plot against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Concerned Women for America (CWA), the organization I lead, had leaders from around the country present for every second of the now infamous Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. We saw Alyssa Milano in her “Believe Women” sash, supporting Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. She was one of the most vocal supporters of the #Metoo movement (though not the only one by any stretch) and adamant that we must believe women. “I believe survivors. No on Kavanaugh,” read the sign she carried around.

The evidence didn’t matter to them. Justice Kavanaugh was guilty from the beginning — even before an investigation. And certainly after, though no new information surfaced. Remember, Justice Kavanaugh had undergone, not one, not two or three, but six background investigations before being nominated to the Supreme Court. There was nothing to back up Dr. Ford’s claims. The people who Dr. Ford said were with her at the alleged party denied ever being there with her. Those were her friends. And she did not remember anything else. She did not remember the exact date or the place. Nothing backed up her story.”

Read Penny’s Entire Op-Ed Here:

Apr 30 2020
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International Coalition Of Women’s Groups Sign Petition Pushing Olympic Committee To Bar Biological Males From Competing As Females

By | Blog, Feminist / Women's Issues, International, Legislative Updates, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation, Social / Cultural Issues | No Comments

CWA’s Vice President of Government Relations Doreen Denny was featured in this Daily Caller article published this week.

“A coalition of international women’s groups have signed a petition urging the International Olympic Committee to suspend their guidelines allowing transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

Save Women’s Sports spearheaded the petition Monday, pushing the IOC to re-evaluate their transgender participation guidelines, which permit biological males who identify as female to participate in women’s sports.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were postponed until July 2021. The IOC announced that it would wait until after the Olympics to publish new guidelines on transgender athletes.

Save Women’s Sports is urging the IOC to use the delay as an opportunity to re-examine the policies allowing transgendered people to compete in women’s sports, which the group says has “potentially devastating effects” and discriminates against women on the basis of sex.

“I looked at the IOC standards in 2015 thinking it would be the gold standard,” Linda Blade, a co-founder of Save Womens Sports told the Daily Caller. “And out of the blue they decided a man can self-identify as a woman and live like a woman and decrease testosterone a little bit,  which is still more than what females are allowed to have, and just go into Olympic sports.””

Read the Entire Article Here to See Doreen Denny’s Comments:

Apr 21 2020
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Denny: Supreme Court Should Look to Transgender Sports Case in ‘Harris v. EEOC’

By | Blog, Feminist / Women's Issues, Legal, News and Events, SCOTUS, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

CWA’s Vice President of Government Relations, Doreen Denny penned the following opinion piece published on CNSnews.com highlighting  Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC, arguing the definition of sex in federal civil rights law in the context of employment. Doreen argues that the Justices should consider DOJ’s recent conclusions about the impact of gender identity-based claims on women in a Connecticut sports case in their deliberations.

“The Supreme Court announced it will resume oral arguments by teleconference in May. Several high-profile cases are being decided and opinions in these cases are sure to break through the latest news of the coronavirus pandemic.

Among them is Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC, arguing the definition of sex in federal civil rights law in the context of employment. If the Court rules sex under Title VII includes “gender identity,” it would effectively rewrite federal law and invalidate policies and practices which treat men as male and women as female.

The Justices would do well to consider DOJ’s recent conclusions about the impact of gender identity-based claims on women in a Connecticut sports case in their deliberations in Harris.

Late last month, Attorney General William Barr signed a Statement of Interest in the federal case about the meaning of sex and equal opportunities in women’s sports. Three Connecticut high school female track athletes have been forced under state athletic association policy to compete against male runners identifying as girls.

Connecticut officials have rejected the concerns of female athletes, claiming federal law compels them to allow students to compete according to the gender with which they identify. Racing against males with built-in physical advantage, the female plaintiffs have lost opportunities to excel in their sport, including state and regional titles.

But, in a 13-page statement, the Department of Justice (DOJ) flatly rejects the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) claim that Title IX requires classifying transgender students according to their perceived gender, not their biological sex:

“Title IX and its implementing regulations prohibit discrimination solely ‘on the basis of sex,’ not on the basis of transgender status, and therefore neither require nor authorize CIAC’s transgender policy. To the contrary, CIAC’s construction of Title IX as requiring the participation of students on athletic teams that reflect their gender identity would turn the statute on its head.”

Barr’s statement offers multiple reasons why dismissing “on the basis of sex” as binary and immutable would be fallacy and should move us a step closer to protecting an equal playing field for every female student athlete in America:

  • Physiological differences between the sexes matter in protecting equal opportunity.”

Read Doreen’s Entire Piece Here:

Mar 26 2020
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From left to right: Dr. Shea Garrison, Concerned Women for America International Affairs; Alfonso Aguilar, Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles and International Human Rights Group; Luis Almagro, Secretary General, Organization of American States; Steven Aden, Americans United for Life; Gualberto Garcia-Jones, International Human Rights Group “On January 28, 2020, international pro-life organizations held a second meeting between and Sec. Almagro to discuss his upcoming reelection in March 2020 and to encourage him to promote the right to life in the American states.”

How Life is Winning in the Americas

By | Blog, International, News and Events, Sanctity of Life, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated Luis Almagro on winning reelection to serve as Secretary General of the Organization of the American States (OAS). Secretary Pompeo commended Almagro for his work promoting democracy in South America and holding Castro accountable in Cuba.

While CWA International is grateful for Almagro’s stance against socialism, including against the illegitimate Maduro regime in Venezuela, there have been concerns regarding his history of proabortion statements

Thankfully, prior to his reelection Secretary Almagro affirmed the right to life and his commitment to uphold that right as a pillar of the OAS convention stating:

“[…] definitely, the principles of religious freedom that I have mentioned and the principles of the right to life are fundamental principles and rights […] The application of the fullest validity of Article 4 of the American Convention is essential.”

Article 4 of the American Convention on Human Rights declares: “Every person has the right to have his life respected. This right shall be protected by law and, in general, from the moment of conception.”

It is hard to overstate the significance of this statement by Secretary General Almagro.

This statement is the result of CWA International meeting privately with Secretary Almagro twice in the last three months, working diligently alongside other coalition partners to ask him to defend life and the unborn as the leader of the OAS.

After speaking with him about the importance of protecting all life and upholding the national sovereignty of each member state of the OAS, Secretary Almagro committed to include provisions in his election platform stating abortion is not an international right and affirming the national sovereignty of the countries who oppose abortion. Almagro also promised to support the freedom of religious-based organizations.

The OAS is comprised of 35 member states from North, Central, and South America, including the U.S. and Canada, as well as the Caribbean. According to Article 1 of its charter, OAS was formed in order to achieve “an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence.” It is a regional entity similar to how the United Nations is a global one.

When Almagro was first elected Secretary General five years ago, he espoused the need for access to abortion:

“[T]he Americas continue to have some of the most restrictive laws regarding sexual and reproductive rights and freedoms [euphemism for abortion], and that reality has to change” [emphasis added].

This directly contradicts the OAS American Convention, not to mention the real healthcare needs of women.

This is why it was imperative Secretary Almagro declare his support for the OAS position on life. The secretary general’s role is to uphold the existing documents and principles, not project an agenda onto it.

Thankfully in March, Secretary Almagro committed publicly to upholding the American Convention and affirmed the right to life as set forth by OAS.

Though CWA International continues to work with Secretary Almagro to resolve some differences regarding defense of the family, we are excited he has made these pro-life declarations in a candidate forum prior to his reelection. We look forward to working alongside him to uphold OAS’s stance on protecting life from conception.

We join Secretary Pompeo in praising Secretary General Almagro’s promotion of freedom in the Americas and pushing back against the repressive socialist regimes of Venezuela, Nicaragua, and communist Cuba. We applaud him for also promising to protect the dignity and life of the unborn.

True freedom for all people.

 

Mar 13 2020
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The NCAA’s Black Eye in Women’s Sports

By | Blog, Feminist / Women's Issues, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation, Social / Cultural Issues | No Comments

Concerned Women for America’s Vice President of Government Relations, Doreen Denny, wrote the following piece featured in Townhall that details the NCAA’s unfair treatment of women athletes:

NCAA President Mark Emmert walked into a public arena recently that could have been a lion’s den for him. Emmert faces widespread and eroding public trust in the NCAA, for good reason. The century-old institution is failing its college players, men and women, in the modern era.

That lion’s den was a U.S. Senate hearing on Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rules and athlete compensation. It didn’t take long for Senators to expose many problems of transparency, consistency and fairness plaguing the NCAA.  In particular, the issue of schools profiting from stand-out athletes at no benefit to the player has hit a tipping point.

With the  popularity of March Madness, Super Bowl-style marketing schemes, and video gaming systems  promoting images of college athletes in fantasy competition, California passed a law making it illegal for state schools to punish an athlete for profiting from his or her name, image or likeness.  The law is due to take effect in 2023.

Understandably, Emmert is looking for the cover of Congress to avoid the pitfalls of a patchwork of state NIL policies. He would like to avoid the consequences that could result from fueling a wild west college athlete endorsement market.

But the NCAA has lost its credibility. It no longer stands up for student-athletes. As a nonprofit organization associated with educational institutions, the NCAA should be supporting players as students, not professionals, but also recognizing their value. Academic integrity should be at the core of any model of intercollegiate competition.

So should fair play for women and upholding laws against sex discrimination.

Read more of Doreen Denny’s piece in Townhall here.

Jun 11 2019
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Transwomen are just transwomen, not women

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The push for trans-rights is a blight on the body politic.

The push for trans-rights may have just pushed too far. Persuading Americans that a person identifying as the opposite sex is the opposite sex ultimately will only convince those willing to call a lie the truth.

Last week marked the 100th anniversary of Senate passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. The Women’s Suffrage Movement knew clearly what the word “sex” meant and who they were fighting for: women, in the full biological sense of the word. These brave suffragists believed women embodied the hallmarks of the female body. They wore yellow sashes and bore the scars of long-sought recognition in the voting booth. They fought for women.

“Gender identity” is an expression of self; a perception, not a fact. There is no objective standard, no medical diagnosis that turns a male into a female. Those promulgating the idea that a “transwoman is a woman” also co-opt female status, saying one’s “gender identity” should entitle a transwoman to all the rights and recognition of the female race.

Today, if you are a woman clinging to the belief that women’s rights are limited to females, I have bad news. Proponents of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) have sacrificed that goal. In an era of progressive ideology, the conventional understanding that a woman must also be female is outdated.

Click here to read the rest of this column as featured in the Washington Times.

May 22 2019
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Penny Nance Discusses the “Equality Act” on Tucker Carlson Tonight

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Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC) CEO & President Penny Nance joins Tucker Carlson on his Fox News Show, alongside feminist Natasha Chart of the Women’s Liberation Front to express their historic joint opposition to the so called Equality Act, which will have numerous detrimental effects for women.

May 20 2019
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The “Equality Act” is a Danger to American Women

By | Feminist / Women's Issues, News and Events, Religious Liberty, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

CWA’s Senior Director of Government Relations Doreen Denny‘s opinion piece was recently featured in “Human Events.”

“Where are the voices of the Women’s March fighting for women’s rights and #MeToo champions fighting against sexual exploitation and harassment? Conservative women and radical feminists are calling on Congress to protect women’s safety and dignity from the dangers of the deceptively-named “Equality Act” slated to be voted on this week.” Doreen Denny, Senior Director of Government Relations, Concerned Women for America.

Click Here to Read the Entire Article.

May 16 2019
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Penny Nance – Inequality Act Press Conference

By | Feminist / Women's Issues, News and Events, Religious Liberty, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee’s (CWALAC) CEO & President Penny Nance joined with Reps. Vicky Hartzler (R-Missouri), Jody Hice (R-Georgia), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) and Carol Miller (R-West Virginia), alongside other organizations from the left and the right to speak out about the Equality Act’s harmful effects on women and girls. The “Equality Act” will do away with women’s sports, safe spaces for women, and jeopardize parents’ jurisdiction over their child’s health care. It is dangerous for our country.

May 15 2019
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Penny Nance on the Equality Act on Fox News

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Concerned Women for America LAC CEO & President Penny Nance was featured on Fox News opposing the so-called Equality Act. National grassroots women’s organizations with contrasting views on many issues are joining hands to raise mutual concerns over this dangerous bill. Making “gender identity” a protected characteristic under federal law would erase the protected category of sex which has been a foundation for securing the rights and opportunities of women in the US.

Apr 17 2019
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Is It Fair Play? How Female Athletes Are Losing in the Age of Gender Identity

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I’m the mother of two athletes, a son who currently plays college baseball and a daughter who was captain of her volleyball team and on elite club teams. Today, my daughter’s leadership, work ethic, and resiliency from sports is translating in her college endeavors, including Army ROTC.

Doors of opportunity open for female athletes through sports. But in today’s age of gender identity, this could all radically change.

Senator Birch Bayh was a Democratic Senator from Indiana who spearheaded the Title IX amendment that banned discrimination against women in college sports. Obituaries from his passing on March 14, 2019 hailed him as the “father of Title IX.”

The senator’s crowning legacy achievement will go to the grave with him if his own party has its way in passing the Equality Act…

__

Click here to read the rest of this column as featured in Townhall.com

Apr 12 2019
2

Congressional Hearings on the So-Called “Equality Act” Expose True Threats to Women and Girls

By | Blog, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

Congress is debating the “Equality Act,” a top-ten priority of Speaker Pelosi (D-California) and House Democrats.  It would enshrine “gender identity” as a protected trait in federal civil rights law.  This denies the biological, scientific fact that being male or female is inscribed in our DNA and determines our sex.  Self-declared “gender identity” would be sufficient to claim protected legal status as either sex.  Simply put, “Whatever I claim to be, I am.”  Such claims could be fluid, because gender-related identity and characteristics could be changed at any time.

CWA recently received a call from a public-school mom in Georgia whose daughter faced a transgender in track competition who won uncontested.  Her concerns were dismissed by the National Organization for Women and the Women’s Sport’s Foundation when she called them thinking they would be fighting for women’s rights.  Not so.  Thankfully she found us.  Here’s what this mom had to say in a letter submitted at the House Judiciary Committee hearing:

“To say that my daughter, as well as the other female athletes, were humiliated and had a sense of defeatism is an understatement.  In the words of my daughter, ‘What’s the point Mom, we can’t win.’  Hearing this broke my heart, for my daughter and for all the female athletes, who train so hard, but no matter how hard they work and train they will never be able to beat a biological male. … What are we doing to our girls by forcing them to race biological males?”

At the hearing, Congressman Gaetz (R-Florida) asked, “If President Trump were to say, ‘I am now the first female president,’ who would celebrate that? Would those who support this legislation think that’s a good thing?”

Advocates have no response to the legitimacy of that question.  More importantly, they are denying the threat of this policy to women and girls.  I was in the hearing room and, frankly, was shocked to hear how women, who are 51% of the U.S. population, are now an afterthought for those promoting the trans agenda.  They are not fighting for females anymore.

In 2016, Sports Illustrated showcased female candidates who were college athletes, including Illinois Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, both cosponsors of the Equality Act.  They said how playing competitive sports prepared, and propelled, them into politics.  “It took the fear out of losing,” said Gillibrand, now a presidential candidate.

The testimonies in this article make the case that reducing opportunities for female college athletes could reduce the number of women running for office.  Is that what Democrats want?

Supporters have no way of defending the Equality Act against these threats to women and girls, even though basic common sense makes it obvious to most people.  Many proponents have blindly jumped on the bandwagon – it’s time they consider the impact.  Women will lose, which is why we need you to get active and oppose the Equality Act.

Contact your congressman and senator today, and tell them to oppose the (In)Equality Act!

Apr 06 2019
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House Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Disappoints, Fails to Protect Women

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This week, the House passed a reauthorization bill of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), but this bill falls short and fails to accomplish its namesake goal. From its inception, the purpose of VAWA has been to protect, support, and seek justice for women who have suffered assault or abuse. CWALAC fully supports that mission. The goal of the current VAWA reauthorization efforts should advance these objectives, not compromise them. The reauthorization must address misguided efforts to go beyond the scope of VAWA, which represent a fundamental threat to the privacy and safety of women and girls. Unfortunately, the House-passed version of VAWA ignores and even exacerbates the current problems with the VAWA law.   Read More

Apr 01 2019
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Don’t be fooled ladies — the Equality Act is a threat to all of us

By | Blog, Defense of Family, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

How can people like Ginni Rometty, the first female CEO of IBM, so easily jump on the bandwagon of the so-called Equality Act and fail to see its obvious threats to women?

The Equality Act, which would amend existing federal civil rights laws (including the Civil Rights Act of 1964) to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics, seeks to erase the understood binary definition of sex as male or female, and enshrine a new definition of sex that includes a person’s perception of his or herself – not the actual chromosomal DNA that identifies his or her true sex.  [More …]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was published by Fox News. Click here to read it.