John Thune: “It is 1 year this week since President Trump signed an Executive order to protect women's and girls' opportunities in…”

“It is 1 year this week since President Trump signed an Executive order to protect women's and girls' opportunities in sports. The order denied Federal funding to institutions that allow women's sports to be hijacked by biological males. Well, this is an issue that means a lot to me. Sports are--always have been--a big deal in my family. And I am the proud father of two daughters, both of whom excelled as student athletes, one of whom is in both a high school and college Hall of Fame. One of my granddaughters has started playing soccer and basketball, and I want all of my granddaughters to be able to enjoy the opportunities and benefits that sports offer. Women's sports have made tremendous strides in the past decades. Once a low--or nonexistent--priority for schools and universities, women's sports today are thriving, thanks, in large part, to title IX, the landmark 1972 legislation that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in education, opening up equal spaces and opportunities for women. But now women's sports are facing a new challenge: the push to allow biological males to compete in women's sports. Now, let me start by saying that this is a problem my Democrat colleagues and others on the left would like to minimize. "It is not a big deal" is the clear message we get from them. Well, it is a big deal.”