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MEDIA RSVP TO [email protected]
Columbus, Ohio
Ohio State House
West Plaza | Outside
1 Capitol Square
Columbus OH
Tuesday, June 18
6:00 pm

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Columbus, OH —  On Tuesday, June 18, members of the media are invited to attend and cover the Our Bodies, Our Sports “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour in Columbus, Ohio. This rally-style event will feature current and former athletes, coaches, and prominent women’s advocates. The coast-to-coast bus tour features events open to the public, as well as press conferences, held in cities and towns throughout the nation to build upon the widespread support to protect women’s sports.

Women’s and girls’ equal athletic opportunity, privacy, and safety will take a  devastating blow when the Biden administration’s illegal Title IX regulations take effect on August 1. The new Title IX rules strip away protections for women — including robbing women of equal opportunity, privacy, and fairness and cheating female athletes out of their trophies, roster spots, playing time, and resources —  and giving them to men. This doesn’t enforce Title IX, it violates it. That was true before the Biden administration dropped this rule, and it is still true today.

The bus tour is hosted by Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition, the nation’s first and only coalition of women’s advocacy organizations from across the political spectrum fighting to protect women’s sports.

EVENT DETAILS:

WHAT: Our Bodies, Our Sports “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour Rallies in Columbus, Ohio.

WHY: Our Bodies, Our Sports is hitting the road from coast to coast this summer activating supporters across the country to take back Title IX and stand up for women’s sports. New regulations put out by the Biden administration violate Title IX, the statute they claim to enforce, by requiring schools to open up women’s spaces to males.

WHO: The Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition formed in 2022 to defend women’s sports and the integrity of the female sporting category. Our Bodies, Our Sports is the nation’s first and only coalition of women’s advocacy organizations from across the political spectrum fighting for equal opportunity and fairness in women’s sports.

This event is open to the public. Current and former student athletes and teams of all ages, parents, families, coaches, and other interested parties are encouraged to attend.

SPEAKERS TO INCLUDE:

  • Paula Scanlan, former University of Pennsylvania swimmer and teammate of Lia Thomas, and Independent Women’s Forum ambassador
  • Madisan DeBos, Southern Utah University D1 cross country and track athlete whose relay team competed against a male athlete
  • Coach Kim Russell, former Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Oberlin College and Independent Women’s Forum ambassador 
  • Selina Soule, 4x track and field National Qualifier forced out of regional championships due to males taking women’s spots
  • May Mailman, Director of Independent Women’s Law Center, former Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Ohio

**Mult-box will be provided.**

**There will be media Q&A and opportunities for pull asides.**

Please direct all RSVPs and media inquiries to [email protected]. Press credentials provided on location.

BACKGROUND:

TAKE BACK TITLE IX SUMMER 2024 BUS TOUR

The tour kicked off with two events in Pennsylvania, events in Whitefish, Montana and Las Vegas, Nevada, and from there traveled through Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska, and Michigan before stopping in Ohio. The bus continues its coast-to-coast tour throughout the month of June holding events throughout the nation. 

The tour builds on the momentum the Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition has built over the past two years standing up for women and girls — creating the largest, most ideologically diverse women’s movement of our time. 

The Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition formed in 2022 to defend women’s sports and the integrity of the female sporting category.Despite political and ideological differences, members of the coalition stand together with gratitude for the generations of female athletes who came before us and in defense of all the women and girls who will come next. 

Coalition members include Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), Champion Women, Women’s Sports Policy Working Group, International Consortium on Female Sports (ICFS), Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), the US chapter of Women’s Declaration International (WDI USA), Concerned Women for America (CWA), Young Women for America, Independent Women’s Voice (IWV), Independent Women’s Law Center (IWLC), and Independent Women’s Network (IWN). 

Our Bodies, Our Sports believes that taking opportunities from women and giving them to men doesn’t enforce Title IX, it violates it. That was true before the Biden administration dropped its new Title IX rule, and it is still true today.

On the 52nd anniversary of Title IX (Sunday, June 23, 2024), the “Take Back Title IX” tour will roll into Washington, D.C. and will hold a press conference near the White House, followed by a rally event to commemorate the final annual celebration of the landmark sex equality law before the Biden administration’s unlawful rewrite upends Title IX as we have always known it. The new regulations strip away all sex-based protections in education, undermine women’s rights, and require schools to allow males to self-identify into women’s spaces, opportunities, and athletics. 

The final stretch of the tour takes place during National Women’s Sports Week, initiated by Independent Women’s Forum in 2022 and observed annually during the week of June 23. In recognition of Women’s Sports Week, June 23-June 29, the tour is planning two special events featuring music performances in Washington, DC and Nashville, TN to celebrate female athletes – past, present, and future – for their athletic participation and achievement in sport.

Click HERE to see upcoming stops on the tour.

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www.ourbodiesoursports.com
www.iwf.org
Independent Women’s Forum is dedicated to developing and advancing policies that aren’t just well intended but actually enhance people’s freedom, choices, and opportunities.