Governor Tate Reeves has joined 24 other GOP governors in opposition to a proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Education that “could prevent states from enforcing our duly-enacted statutes protecting women’s and girls’ sports.”
The letter, addressed to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, urges the current administration to forgo or delay the proposal to amend Title IX rules expanding the meaning of sexual discrimination to include gender identity that would prevent schools and colleges that receive federal funding from banning transgender athletes.
“We write to submit a joint comment in opposition to the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed new regulation 34 C.F.R. § 106.41(b)(2) and respectfully request that it be withdrawn or delayed until the U.S. Supreme Court can address the questions raised in several pending cases that are challenging this administration’s expanded reading of Title IX,” an excerpt from the letter reads.
Reeves, who is leading the charge on the call to action, believes the proposed rule would not only be detrimental to fairness in sports but it would overshadow the achievements of female athletes.
“It is outrageous and fundamentally unfair that the Biden Administration would force hardworking female athletes, like my three daughters, to compete against biological males,” Reeves said. “In their desperate commitment to a radical gender ideology, some politicians are willfully blind to the profound negative impact that is being exacted on female athletes who for 50 years have fought so hard for their positions in sports. We’ll continue fighting to protect fairness in women’s sports.”
Reeves, an avid proponent of banning transgender women athletes from competing in female sports, signed legislation into law in 2021 barring biological men from competing in women’s sports in Mississippi schools.
Joining Reeves on the letter are Governors Kay Ivey (Ala.), Mike Dunleavy (Alaska), Sarah Sanders (Ark.), Ron DeSantis (Fla.), Brian Kemp (Ga.), Mike DeWine (Ohio), Kim Reynolds (Iowa), Brad Little (Idaho), Eric Holcomb (Ind.), Mike Parson (Mo.), Greg Gianforte (Mont.), Jim Pillen (Neb.), Doug Burgum (N.D.), Chris Sununu (N.H.), Joe Lombardo (Nev.), Kevin Stitt (Okla.), Henry McMaster (S.C.), Kristi Noem (S.D.), Bill Lee (Tenn.), Greg Abbott (Texas), Spencer Cox (Utah), Glenn Youngkin (Va.), Jim Justice (W. Va.), and Mark Gordon (Wyo.).
The full letter can be read here.
