Free Republic

The Trump administration said Monday that the University of Pennsylvania violated laws guaranteeing women equal opportunities in athletics by letting a transgender swimmer compete on the school's women's team and into team facilities. The administration's statement does not name Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022 and was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title that year -- an award Thomas now faces losing. But the investigation opened in February by the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights focused on Thomas, who became a leading...

Bondi is a little dramatic….. but finally takes someone to court. DOJ announces they are taking Maine to court for breaking Title IX and the associated Trump EO,

A federal judge said the Trump administration must lift their freeze on federal funding to Maine. The ruling reads that the USDA "must immediately unfreeze and release to the state of Maine any federal funding that they have frozen or failed or refused to pay because of the state of Maine's alleged failure to comply with the requirements of Title IX." The administration is also "barred from freezing, terminating, or otherwise interfering with the state of Maine's future federal funding for alleged violations of Title IX without complying with the legally required procedure." The USDA announced the funding freeze and...

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating the Maine Department of Education and a Maine school district for Title IX violations. “Maine would have you believe that it has no choice in how it treats women and girls in athletics — that is, that it must follow its state laws and allow male athletes to compete against women and girls,” acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor said in a statement. “Let me be clear: If Maine wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Education Department, it has to follow Title IX,” he added....

Several women who were former college athletes filed a lawsuit Tuesday after being forced to compete against a man and share changing rooms and bathrooms with him in 2022. Grace Estabrook, Ellen Holmquist and Margot Kaczorowski all competed on the University of Pennsylvania’s (UPenn) swim team when transgender-identifying male athlete Lia Thomas was allowed to join the team and use the women’s facilities. The women are suing UPenn as well as Harvard University, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Ivy League Council of Presidents for allegedly violating Title IX by discriminating against women and causing them “emotional harm,”...

It could soon be illegal for transgender girls to compete in girls’ sports at all levels from kindergarten to public colleges. Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns introduced his bill on Tuesday afternoon. Some Democrats are not only condemning the bill but are saying girls’ sports are inherently unfair in Georgia anyway. Burns’ bill comes even though there are no reported incidents of transgender girls trying to compete in sports anywhere in Georgia. The bill’s author, Fayetteville Republican Josh Bonner insisted that’s not the point. “How many incidents? What is our threshold? Do we want any young girl in the state...

The murder of a US Border Patrol agent near the Canadian border appears to be linked to a radical leftist trans militant cult accused of killings across the country. Around a week before the Jan. 20 attack, federal law enforcement had been surveilling German national Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt and University of Washington student Teresa “Milo” Consuelo Youngblut. Staff at a Lyndonville, Vermont motel alerted authorities about seeing the duo with a firearm and black tactical clothing. When law enforcement visited them, the pair claimed to be looking at property in the area and promptly checked out of the motel on...

The 24-year-old trans-identified male from Massachusetts who was arrested on Monday at the US Capitol with Molotov cocktails and a knife and intended to kill Scott Bessent has been revealed to have been planning the attack for a month and intended to "hurt big players" in Washington, DC, according to a court filing from the Department of Justice seeking pretrial detention. In the filing, the DOJ said that Ryan Michael English, also known as "Riley Jane English" and referred to by she/her pronouns in the document, bought an atlas around one month prior to the January 27 arrest. The atlas...

President Trump recently attended the traditional church service at the National Cathedral after he was inaugurated. What should've been an inspiring and encouraging message from God's Holy Word was instead a scolding lecture from a woke female bishop with an agenda. Hear what advice Pastor Jack would give to Trump regarding that "church service" and how he should navigate the next four years when it comes to churches and surrounding himself with Christians. Video is 32:24 minutes long

A Texas high school official resigned over the controversy surrounding an undercover video showing him telling a parent how to place a biological boy in girls' sports. Reny Lizardo resigned as executive director of campus operations for the Irving Independent School District after the hidden-camera video led Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to call for his immediate termination. The video was obtained and published by Accuracy in Media. The video shows an alleged parent expressing concern to Lizardo about "transphobia" and "bigotry" her transgender daughter might experience if the family moves to the area of the district. "Could you legally...

The judge found the rule change went beyond Title IX, which is aimed at preventing discrimination on the basis of sex.A federal judge on Jan. 9 scrapped the Education Department’s attempt to expand Title IX protections to people who identify as transgender, finding that the 2024 rule is illegal.Title IX forbids discrimination on the basis of sex. It applies to schools that receive federal funding.The Department of Education (DOE), in its rule, made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.States sued, and a judge blocked the rule while the legal case proceeded. That judge,...

Huge win for girls and women everywhere!!! This morning, a federal court ruled in favor of reality. Biden's Title IX rewrite has been vacated nationwide.

Each year at this time, the staff of the Martin Center share our higher-ed-reform dreams for the coming 12 months. Will all of our wishes come true? Probably not. Nevertheless, we offer them here in a spirit of optimism, for the reader’s enjoyment and edification. Keep Title IX Out of College-Sports Revenue SharingLast year, the Boston College Law Review (BCLR) published an article on the “equity implications” of paying college athletes, a topic made pressing by Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s NCAA v. Alston concurrence and the related settlement of House v. NCAA. As a review, Kavanaugh joined in full the Court’s...

The new Republican-controlled 119th House of Representatives, convened Friday, has already fast tracked a bill that would ban men in women’s sports. The bill was moved forward as part of the 119th rules package, which allowed 12 bills “on a glide path to a vote on the House floor without allowing for hearings or amendments, by limiting debate, and waiving all the other chamber rules,” GovTrack reported. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act was reintroduced Friday by U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, along with 56 Republican cosponsors. “This legislation allows women and girls a fair...

Taylor Starling, a high school cross-country runner at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, lost her spot on the varsity team earlier this season to a transgender transfer student. Multiple parents of students at Martin Luther King have told Fox News Digital that the school has allowed the trans athlete to compete on the varsity cross-country team despite missing practices for academic reasons. These parents include Starling's father, longtime firefighter Ryan Starling, and construction subcontractor Dan Slavin, father to Kaitlyn, another runner on the team. "The fact that the male athlete was able to compete while attending less...

NCAA President Charlie Baker sent a message to women's college athletes who are uncomfortable sharing locker rooms with transgender athletes on Tuesday, putting the responsibility for their own safety squarely on the women themselves. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over legalized sports gambling, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questioned Baker about the NCAA's policies that have allowed trans athletes to compete on women's teams. Hawley confronted Baker about the NCAA policy that states "transgender student athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower and toilet facilities in accordance with their gender identity." Baker, the former Republican governor of...

It’s safe to say Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and NCAA President Charlie Baker won’t be exchanging Christmas cards any time soon. Baker, the infamous collegiate sports boss who’s allowed female athletes to be tormented by biological men for his entire tenure, flew to D.C. for what he thought would be a congressional hearing about sports betting. Instead, it turned into an explosive takedown of the NCAA’s wildly unpopular trans policy. From the opening gavel, there was no love lost for Baker, who’s presided over one of the most contentious chapters in college sports history.

US comedian and television host Whoopi Goldberg is launching the All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN), a new 24/7 global women’s sports channel. Confirmed: AWSN will be available in 65 countries with a US launch in the offing The network will show action from properties such as the Uefa Women’s Nations League, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) 3×3 Women’s Series Channel is currently distributed by Etisalat’s eLife streaming service in the Middle East, as well as by India’s JioTV and Philippines-based platform Jungo Pinoy Goldberg has partnered with Chicago-based hospital chain CommonSpirit to launch...

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Monday on “Morning Joe” that “white progressives” who had been “spouting extreme positions” have been setting up the Democratic Party party to lose. Scarborough said, “It was true in ’17, and it was doubly true in 2024, that these white progressives on the far, far left said, ‘We’re going to save you, black and Hispanic people of America.’ A lot of black and hispanic people of America say, ‘No thanks. you’re kind of wild. You’re too far left. We believe in the American dream. We want to be part of the American dream. Thanks but...

U.S. Olympic gymnastics legend Simone Biles calls on President Joe Biden to “make some things shake” in his final weeks as president before President-Elect Trump takes the oath of office. Following President-Elect Trump’s sweeping electoral victory in Tuesday’s election, Biles took to X and told President Biden to make big moves on behalf of women. “Mr Biden, I need you to stand up, straighten your back and make some things shake before your departure,” Biles wrote, ending the post with “xoxo the women in America.”