WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Sunday, June 23, members of the media are encouraged to cover and participate in the “Take Back Title IX” X Space conversation featuring current and former athletes, coaches, and prominent women’s advocates to celebrate the 52nd anniversary of Title IX and to kickoff National Women’s Sports Week. The event is hosted by Our Bodies, Our Sports (OBOS), the nation’s first and only coalition of women’s advocacy organizations from across the political spectrum banding together to fight to save women’s sports. Our Bodies, Our Sports has been on the frontlines and represents the largest, most ideologically diverse, women’s movement of our time. 

TUNE IN: X SPACE

 CLICK HERE TO JOIN

SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2024

4:00 PM ET

Our Bodies, Our Sports has been traveling the country since May 29 for its coast-to-coast “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour. The nationwide bus tour is bringing attention to the Biden administration’s new Title IX regulations set to take effect on August 1. The new rules flip Title IX on its head — stripping all sex-based protections in education, undermining women’s rights, and requiring schools to allow anyone who self-identifies as a woman into women’s spaces, opportunities, and sports. 

The X Space event will be held just two days after vandals defaced nearly every inch of the “Take Back Title IX” bus overnight following an Our Bodies, Our Sports rally in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The event drew a large crowd of supporters and featured remarks from a lineup of female athletes and leading women’s advocates, including former UNC-Chapel Hill Women’s Basketball Coach Sylvia Hatchell, who are touring the country to help protect equal athletic opportunity for women and girls.

  • Photos and videos of bus tour events and stops throughout the country HERE. 
  • Photos and videos of the tour bus vandalism HERE. 

[Credit: Independent Women’s Forum.]

During the X Space the Our Bodies Our Sports coalition will announce two open letters – one to the Biden administration and one to Congress. The letters will be on display at the June 25th rally in Washington, D.C. for attendees to sign to showcase the growing momentum to stop the illegal rewrite of Title IX. More details about the letters to be shared during the X Space.

DETAILS:

WHEN: Sunday, June 23 at 4:00 PM ET

WHERE: X Space, Click here to join

WHY: Women and girls’ equal athletic opportunity, privacy, and safety will take a devastating blow under the new Title IX rules, which replace “sex” with “gender identity.” The regulations strip away protections for women—taking opportunities from women 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.

WHO: 

OBOS “Take Back Title IX” Tour Featured Speakers:

  • Riley Gaines, 12x All American swimmer, 5x SEC Champion and record holder, Independent Women’s Forum ambassador, and host of “Gaines for Girls” on OutKick
  • Martina Navratilova, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, founding member of the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group
  • Tulsi Gabbard, former U.S. Representative (D-HI), original sponsor of the Protect Women’s Sports Act 
  • Coach Sylvia Hatchell, former UNC-Chapel Hill Basketball Coach, fifth most career wins in NCAA history, former USA Basketball Team Assistant and Head Coach 
  • Donna de Varona, Olympic Champion, Swimming, 17-year President of the Women’s Sports Foundation, Emmy Award Winning Sports Broadcaster, founding member, Women’s Sports Policy Working Group
  • Payton McNabb, former high school volleyball player and Independent Women’s Forum ambassador 
  • Paula Scanlan, former University of Pennsylvania swimmer and Independent Women’s Forum ambassador
  • Kara Dansky, president of Women’s Declaration International USA 
  • Nancy Hogshead, J.D., Olympic Champion swimmer, Civil Rights Lawyer, CEO of Champion Women, providing legal advocacy for girls and women in sports, and founding member of the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group
  • Macy Petty, NCAA volleyball player and Young Women for America ambassador
  • Coach Kim Russell, former Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Oberlin College 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 Barbara Ehardt, former 15-year career NCAA Division I women’s basketball coach; former NCAA basketball player; and current member of the Idaho House of Representatives from the 33rd district
  • Adriana McLamb, Spokeswoman for Independent Women’s Forum, former Division 1 volleyball player, and now coach and recruiter to aspiring collegiate female volleyball players
  • AND MORE!

Please direct all media inquiries to [email protected]. 

There will be opportunities for media Q&A during this X Space Event.

OUR BODIES, OUR SPORTS COALITION

The “Take Back Title IX” Bus 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.


NATIONAL WOMEN’S SPORTS WEEK [June 23 – 29]

In 2022, Independent Women’s Forum, together with its grassroots membership arm Independent Women’s Network, registered an official National Women’s Sports Week observed annually during the week of June 23 to recognize female athletes — past, present, and future — for their athletic participation and achievement in sport.

National Women’s Sports Week coincides with the anniversary of Title IX, which transformed sports by guaranteeing women and girls the right to equal athletic opportunity.

Last year, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney and Senator Joni Ernst introduced a bicameral resolution to designate the week including June 23, 2023, as National Women’s Sports Week.

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