Old North News

Brooke Weiss, the chair of the Mecklenburg County chapter of Moms for Liberty, chimed in on the June 21 Senate committee hearing, which included discussions covering possible changes to Title IX, allowing transgender athletes to compete on opposite-sex teams.

“This is equivalent to spitting in the faces of women,” Weiss said in a June 22 tweet in response to a tweet from DailyBS writer Bo Snerdly. The tweet featured an article on the recent Senate hearing, detailing the the comments from former NCAA University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines who was forced to compete against biological male Lia Thomas.

Moms for Liberty is a nonprofit activist organization that “is dedicated to the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government,” according to Moms for Liberty.org. The organizations is especially concerned with school choice for their children.

Title IX is a federal civil rights law overseen by the U.S. Department of Education that was enacted in 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. The department announced the proposed changes to Title IX in April. According to Fox News, the changes would ensure that no school or college receiving federal funding would be allowed to impose a "one-size-fits-all" policy that categorically bans transgender students from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Such policies would be considered a violation of Title IX.

The June 21 hearing, titled “Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans,” included commentary from both sides of the debate, with Gaines, now a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Voice, offering an emotional testimony to the Senate hearing about how changes are already impacting athletes.

“In addition to being forced to give up our awards, our titles and our opportunities, the NCAA forced me and my female swimmers to share a locker room with Thomas, a 6-foot-4, 22-year-old male equipped with (and exposing) male genitalia,” Gaines said in her testimony. “Let me be clear: We were not forewarned. We were not asked for our consent. And we did not give our consent. In swimming locker rooms you’re undressing quickly in front of one another, fully naked. I was forced to take off my swimsuit in front of a man. If nothing else, I truly hope you can see how this is a violation of our right to privacy and how some of us have felt uncomfortable, embarrassed and even traumatized by the experience.”

"Lia Thomas is not a brave, courageous woman who earned a national title," Gaines tweeted on March 26 in response to Thomas being honored by ESPN during women’s history month. "He is an arrogant cheat who stole a national title from a hardworking, deserving woman. The NCAA is responsible. If I was a woman working at ESPN, I would walk out. You're spineless, ESPN."