VIDEO: Ricketts on Senate Floor: Protecting Women’s Sports “Pro-Science, Pro-Women, and Pro-Common Sense”
September 7, 2023
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) spoke on the Senate floor about the need to protect women’s sports from the policies of the Biden administration. He highlighted the success of the recent Volleyball Day in Nebraska as proof of the important progress Title IX brought in advancing opportunities for women.
“Volleyball Day in Nebraska saw four of our women’s volleyball teams showcase their talent,” Ricketts said. “Over 92,000 fans crammed into Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium to watch the event. It was a world record event – the most attendees for a women’s sports event in history. And it was a great day for Title IX, to demonstrate how much success that has had over the last 50 years. In fact, Omaha World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel wrote: ‘Volleyball Day in Nebraska may be the biggest Title IX statement of all time’. Certainly, it demonstrated the progress we have seen creating equal opportunity for our daughters, granddaughters, and sisters.”
Ricketts recently attended an event in Nebraska featuring former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, trailblazing Olympian Carol Frost, and Dr. Greg Brown of the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
“There is no research, none whatsoever, that shows that by reducing testosterone, you eliminate the male sex-based athletic advantages …” said Ricketts. “When we support policies that undermine Title IX, we are potentially robbing women of the opportunity to be able to have those sports careers and to have the opportunity to get those scholarships. As school starts back up again, let’s celebrate the differences between boys and girls, between men and women. Let’s not support policies that are driving them off the court or the playing field or out of the pool.
“I’m a proud co-sponsor of the Protection of Women and Girls Sports Act. It would require Title IX to be interpreted based upon your biological sex. This will preserve Title IX and those opportunities for young women all across this country. Let’s make sure bad policy is not undermining Title IX. I urge all my Senate colleagues to support this common sense act.
“It’s pro-science, it’s pro-women, and It is pro-common sense.”
Watch the video here.
TRANSCRIPT:
Senator Ricketts: “Men and boys should not be allowed to participate in women’s and girls’ sports. This used to be common sense, but today apparently, it’s controversial.
“When I was back in Nebraska for the August recess, two events highlighted this for me. The first was Volleyball Day. Volleyball Day in Nebraska saw four of our women’s volleyball teams showcase their talent. Over 92,000 fans crammed into Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium to watch the event. It was a world record event. The most attendees for a women’s sports event in history.
“And it was a great day for Title IX to demonstrate how much success that has had over the last 50 years. In fact, Omaha World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel wrote, ‘Volleyball Day in Nebraska may be the biggest Title IX statement of all time.’
“Certainly, it demonstrated the progress that we have seen creating equal opportunity for our daughters, granddaughters, and sisters. And it’s not just about athletics. It’s about scholarships, about educational opportunities, and, of course, those career opportunities as well.
“But sadly, today, Title IX is under attack from bad policies that are undermining what has been so successful for a half a century. And that brings me to my second event.
“I, along with 1100 other Nebraskans, had the honor to listen to Riley Gaines. Riley was a women’s swimmer for the University of Kentucky, and she described her experience competing against Lia Thomas. Now, Lia Thomas was William Thomas, a man who competed against other men for three years of his college career. And at that time, he was mediocre at best. He came in ranked 462nd in the nation. But after a year of testosterone suppressing therapy under NCAA rules, Thomas was allowed to compete against women, and he went from being ranked 462nd nationally to being top ranked. And Riley described how unfair this experience was.
“We also heard from Dr. Greg Brown. He’s a physiologist and professor at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. He described the differences between men and women. Crazy that we need to have somebody talk about the differences between men and women. He described that men produce 10 to 20 times more testosterone than women, on average. This testosterone suppression therapy that I mentioned, well, it reduces it, but according to NCAA rules and IOC rules, you only have to get below the normal range. And that level is still 5 to 10 times more testosterone than what women produce. And here’s the kicker. There is no research, none whatsoever, that shows that by reducing testosterone, you eliminate the male sex-based athletic advantages. None. It’s bogus. It’s arbitrary. That’s part of the unfairness.
“When we support policies that undermine Title IX, we are potentially robbing women of the opportunity to be able to have those sports careers and to have the opportunity to get those scholarships. As school starts back up again, let’s celebrate the differences between boys and girls, between men and women. Let’s not support policies that are driving them off the court or the playing field or out of the pool.
“I’m a proud co-sponsor of the Protection of Women and Girls Sports Act. It would require Title IX to be interpreted based upon your biological sex. This will preserve Title IX and those opportunities for young women all across this country. Let’s make sure bad policy is not undermining Title IX. I urge all my Senate colleagues to support this common sense act.
“It’s pro-science, it’s pro-women, and It is pro-common sense. We need to push back against these bad policies that are undermining the important Title IX work of the last 50 years. And that way we can ensure that our daughters, granddaughters and sisters have that equal opportunity that they’ve had over all of these years.
“Thank you, Mr. President. I yield back.”