Wicker, Hyde-Smith among 23 U.S. Senators calling on NCAA to protect women’s sports

• The Republican Senators urge NCAA President Charlie Baker to deem that only biological women can participate in NCAA women’s sports.

Mississippi’s Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith are among a group of 23 U.S. Senators calling on the NCAA to adopt policies that protect women’s sports.

A letter led by Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn urges NCAA President Charlie Baker to update the association’s student-athlete participation policy to require that only biological women can participate in NCAA women’s sports. The group says the “science is clear.”

“Males have inherent athletic advantages over females due to their anatomy and biology – including through having larger hearts, higher red blood count, greater lung capacity, longer endurance, larger muscle mass, differences in bone density and geometry, and lower body fat,” the Senators’ letter to Baker states. “Consistently, when adult males’ athletic performance is contrasted with adult females’ athletic performance in sports relying on endurance, muscle strength, speed, and power, males dominate, outperforming females by 10 to 30 percent.”

The Argument: Science and Athletic Advantage

The letter points out that other athletics associations are recognizing the obvious differences between the sexes.

“In April of this year, the NAIA Council of Presidents unanimously approved a new policy prohibiting the participation of males in women’s sports. Similarly, in June of this year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Lia Thomas lacked standing to challenge World Aquatic’s policy barring Thomas from competing in the women’s category for the Olympics,” the Senators write. “These decisions are rooted in the fundamental knowledge that—while each individual should have access to sports—men and women have biological differences that must be respected.”

The group of Republican Senators say they are sending the letter to Baker amid the Biden-Harris Administration’s “unprecedented assault on Title IX,” adding that, “Women deserve that even playing field and chance to compete, one that can only be achieved by ensuring that only females compete in women’s sports.”

READ MORE: Biden Administration broadens Title IX to include sexual orientation, gender identity

Signing on to the letter with Blackburn, Wicker and Hyde-Smith are Senators Tommy Tuberville (AL), Katie Britt (AL), Joni Ernst (IA), Cynthia Lummis (WY), James Lankford (OK), John Thune (SD), James Risch (ID), Steve Daines (MT), Kevin Cramer (ND), Josh Hawley (MO), Ted Cruz (TX), Pete Ricketts (NE), Ted Budd (NC), Marco Rubio (FL), Mike Crapo (ID), Mike Braun (IN), Bill Cassidy (LA), Thom Tillis (NC), Roger Marshall (KS), and Rick Scott (FL).

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Concerned Women for America, Heritage Action, and Independent Council on Women’s Sports have all endorsed the letter.

Mississippi Senators Push for Biological Women in Sports

Mississippi Senators Wicker and Hyde-Smith are also cosponsors of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, which would preserve Title IX protections for female athletes and ensure fair, safe competition in women’s sports across the country. 

In addition, their offices note that Senator Hyde-Smith introduced, and Senator Wicker cosponsored, a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to overturn the Biden administration’s rewrite of Title IX.

Since rolling out the broadened Title IX rules to prohibit discrimination based on “sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics” in April, the Biden Administration has faced a series of legal setbacks. States including Mississippi, along with other interested parties, have challenged the 1972 law’s rewrite in court. The result has been the granting of preliminary injunctions in multiple states.