'We Won't Back Down!' – Women's Groups and Female Athletes Fight for Fairness in Women's Sports

Saying "we won't back down," female athletes backed by women's groups and Virginia's attorney general protested outside the Sports Center in Virginia Beach on Friday where a biological male was competing against females in the National Track and Field championship. They told the NCAA once again – what you're doing to girl athletes is wrong and it needs to stop now. 

Friday was also International Women's Day and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares saw it as the best time to appeal to the NCAA regarding female sports.

"Biological males shouldn't be competing against female athletes. And they're cheering it on and they're trying to defend it. And so, we're here today to say, no more. Let's protect women's sports," Miyares said.

Former high school volleyball player Payton McNabb knows all too well about the potential danger of playing against biological males.

"I was hit so severely by a transgender athlete that I was knocked unconscious, lying in a fetal position for about 30 seconds. And then from that I sustained a concussion and neck injury that have long-term effects that I'm still dealing with today," she said.

About six months after that injury, McNabb testified in the North Carolina General Assembly which helped lead to the Women's Sports Act that prohibits students of the male sex from playing on middle, high school, and collegiate athletic teams designated for females.

Paula Scanlan swam on the University of Pennsylvania swim team alongside trans swimmer Leah Thomas. Now with the Independent Women's Forum, she says this is about the NCAA stealing what belongs to women.

"But what many people don't realize is every single time Thomas has competed on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania, a girl was asked to stay home and every single time he swam somebody was displaced. It's not just about trophies, it's about equal opportunity and that is what Title IX was created for, and we are seeing that torn away right in front of our eyes," Scanlan said.

***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

Meanwhile, inside the Virginia Beach Sports Center, Scanlan and others accuse the NCAA of denying a female athlete her chance to compete by selecting Saide Schreiner, a biological male running for Rochester Institute of Technology, to run in its division three national championships. Schreiner, who had previously broken two women's collegiate records, placed ninth in Friday's 200-meter race. 

Women's sports activist Riley Gaines tweeted, "Women's records mean nothing if they're set by men." 

Concerned Women for America agrees. "It's sex discrimination, and it only goes one way. I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime, said Tanya Ditty of Concerned Women for America. 

Miyares blames the Biden administration for the NCAA's policy.

"They tried to propose this regulation that says, if you accept so much as a dollar of money for your school lunch program for underprivileged kids, you have to accept the Biden administration's radical, far left transgendered ideology of biological boys in women's sports, locker rooms and on sports teams," he said. 

For now, the fight for fairness in girls' sports is still on. But women's groups and female athletes say they will not back down until this injustice and discrimination against female athletes ends for good.