WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, IW Features, the storytelling platform of Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), released two new female athletes stories – amateur cyclist Hannah Rossi* and amateur disc golfer Jennifer Castro – that highlight the growing movement of women who are speaking out against male athletes competing in women’s sports, an issue that had a significant impact on this year’s U.S. elections and is continuing to gain momentum abroad.
When amateur cyclist Hannah Rossi* moved to Italy, she discovered that most women-only races in Italy are for professionals only, not for the amateur level. Rossi told IW Features she was excited when she and her teammates finally found a women-only amateur race. But that excitement dwindled when a male cyclist who self-identifies as a female participated in the race and took home first place.
Rossi told IW Features:
“I felt defeated and disheartened, not from a competition standpoint, rather that at our first opportunity at a women’s only amateur race, the winner wasn’t even a woman.”
Marine veteran Jennifer Castro began competing in amateur disc golf tournaments in 2020 after leaving the armed forces. She became deeply invested in the disc golf community, mentoring young girls, keeping score at tournaments, and supplying veterans with free bags of discs.
Two years ago, however, Castro discovered through her own personal investigation that the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) was not being truthful to its membership about the criteria that disc golfers who identify as transgender had to meet in order to compete in female divisions. According to Castro, not only did guidance from the PDGA not require the submission of personal paperwork for participation, but also when she reported evidence of a male golfer openly admitting to skipping the hormones that made him eligible to compete, the PDGA did not investigate.
Now, Castro is speaking out against the PDGA’s actions and decision to allow male athletes to compete in the women’s division.
Castro told IW Features:
“It’s killing me that nobody has a voice anymore,” Castro said. “My career and financial freedom do not ride on disc golf like they do for these girls. A lot of these pros are my children’s age. So I have no problem continuing to fight, and I’m going to continue to do so.”
About Rossi and Castro’s stories, Andrea Mew, IW Features manager at Independent Women’s Forum, said: “Jennifer Castro found strength and healing through disc golf—an opportunity every woman deserves when competing in a women’s division. Yet, the PDGA’s lax participation policies didn’t just bend the rules; they shattered trust in fair competition. Women’s sporting events, designed for female athletes whose bodies are inherently different from their male counterparts, are losing their integrity and safety—and Hannah Rossi’s* experience as a cyclist exemplifies this troubling reality.”
In related female athlete news, Independent Women’s Forum announced on Wednesday that Sia Li’ili’i, women’s volleyball team captain at the University of Nevada Reno, joined the organization as an ambassador.
Li’ili’i joins other IWF ambassadors who are advancing the organization’s Stand With Women project to protect women’s spaces and opportunities, including Riley Gaines, Payton McNabb, Paula Scanlan, and Coach Kim Russell.
As team captain, Li’ili’i bravely led the women of her volleyball team as they voted to stand in solidarity with four other collegiate teams and forfeit their match against San José State University, which rosters a male player on the women’s team. Li’ili’i took this stand even as she and her teammates received zero support, and even faced significant backlash from University of Nevada Reno coaches and administrators.
Sia Li’ili’i said, “I am speaking up on this because men do not belong in Women’s Sports. As a division 1 athlete, I have worked my whole life to live out my dreams of competing at this level. This is a dream I see in my nieces as they watch me play — I don’t want them to be faced with competing for a roster spot against a male with significant biological advantages. That is not fair!”
The movement of female voices demanding fair competition and equal opportunity continues to grow. Hannah Rossi, Jennifer Castro, and Sia Li’ili’i are just three of the latest voices to join a chorus of women standing together against the threat to women’s rights and for the most fundamental right in America—equality under the law.
To book these female athletes for interviews, please email [email protected].
*A pseudonym has been used to protect the storyteller’s identity.