WASHINGTON, D.C. — Independent Women today joined U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and state Attorneys General from around the country for a roundtable discussion held by the White House Office of Domestic Policy Council (DPC) and White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) on what states can do to protect women’s sports. The roundtable, moderated by Vince Haley, director of the White House Office of DPC, centered around President Donald Trump’s historic Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports Executive Order and ending child abuse in schools.
Female athletes attending the roundtable, pictured above, included:
- Payton McNabb, an Independent Women ambassador and former high school volleyball player who was permanently injured after suffering a spike to the head by a male athlete on the opposing women’s team. McNabb recently joined President Trump for the signing of his women’s sports EO;
- Selina Soule, a 4x track and field National Qualifier, forced out of regional championships due to males taking women’s spots; and
- Emmy Salerno, a 14-year-old track athlete from West Virginia who refused to compete against a male during shot-put track and field championships in April 2023. Emmy joined Riley Gaines last year to advocate for the passage of Independent Women’s “Stand With Women” legislation to save women’s sports in her home state of West Virginia.
- Zoe Hutchins, a senior high school athlete in Maine who has been speaking out after her teammate was forced to compete against a male athlete during the girl’s Indoor Track and Field State Championship
- Cassidy Carlisle, a highschoolsenior and three-sport varsity athlete from Maine who was forced to compete against a male athlete
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, as well as Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, Guam Attorney General Douglas Moylan, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, discussed the importance of and need for state action to codify President Trump’s critical executive order protecting women’s sports.
Payton McNabb on passing Independent Women’s “Stand With Women” legislation in 11 states to bolster protections for women and girls: “Through my work at Independent Women’s Forum, I’ve had the opportunity to support many states in establishing legislation to define common sex-based words like ‘woman’ and ‘female’ to prohibit those who seek to manipulate the meaning of ‘woman’ and diminish our protections. Our definitions have passed in 11 states, and so far in 2025 have been introduced in 17 states. Governor Ivey of Alabama signed our Stand With Women bill into law earlier this month, and we have bills waiting on the desks of the governors of Montana and West Virginia. They are both expected to sign them into law very soon. Not only are these states defining ‘sex’ but keeping men out of women’s spaces like sports, locker rooms, prisons, and domestic violence shelters. I know what a woman is, the President knows what a woman is, and it’s time our state laws do too.”
Emmy Salerno on preventing women’s sports from coming under attack again: “President Trump’s executive order has brought common sense back to the country. What I would like to see is for the girls to compete only against girls and boys to compete only against boys, for girls to be in girls’ locker rooms and boys to be in boys’ locker rooms. Girls to be in girls’ bathrooms and boys to be in boys’ bathrooms. It is sad to say that we have to make this into law, but we have to. We know if the wrong people get back into this White House, girls’ and women’s sports will be under attack again. How badly do we have to get hurt? How much do we have to lose before we put a stop to it all? So please help me and girls all over this country save women’s sports.”
Selina Soule on the need to codify President Trump’s executive order at the state level: “Every state in this great country should have a women’s sports bill to protect their girls and ensure they don’t have to experience the pain and heartbreak I went through during my high school career. President Trump’s executive order is a great step towards protecting women, however it is not permanent and a future administration can go and remove that order. If the House, Senate and each state have bills to protect us girls, then stories like mine and each of these women here with me will never be allowed to happen again.”
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