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30 STATES IN 30 DAYS
The Take Back Title IX Summer 2024 Bus Tour is open to the media. Media attending, email press@ourbodiesoursports.com for event credentials.
Between official tour event stops, the tour will feature several press conferences held throughout the country. For a full list of bus press conference locations, email press@ourbodiesoursports.com.
Interested in interviewing tour speakers? Email press@ourbodiesoursports.com
Media
PRESS RELEASE
30 STATES IN 30 DAYS: Our Bodies, Our Sports Leads Landmark Coast-To-Coast “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour To Save Women’s Sports And Stop The War On Women
Female Athletes and Coaches Expose Biden’s Overhaul of Title IX
“The Most Anti-Woman Pursuit of This Administration”
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 2, 2024
Photos and videos of bus tour events and stops throughout the country HERE.
[Credit: Independent Women’s Forum.]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Our Bodies, Our Sports’ landmark “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour across America to build widespread support to repeal the Biden administration’s new Title IX rewrite and protect women’s sports wrapped up its final rally in Nashville on Friday with a packed room, filled with energized supporters of all ages and women’s rights advocates. The tour, featuring prominent and decorated female athletes and coaches, traveled throughout 30 states in 30 days to inform the public about the consequences of the illegal changes to Title IX and the threat to women and girls’ sex-based spaces — including sports. Biden’s Title IX rewrite takes effect on August 1.
The tour was sponsored 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, featuring former Olympians, NCAA athletes and coaches, high school athletes, and prominent women’s advocates. Support provided by Independent Women's Forum and Defense of Freedom Institute.
Speakers along the tour included 12x All-American swimmer Riley Gaines; one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Martina Navratilova; former U.S. Representative (D-HI) and original sponsor of the Protect Women’s Sports Act Tulsi Gabbard; former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos; two-time Olympian Nancy Hogshead; two-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Donna de Varona; one of the most winningest coaches in women’s basketball history, former UNC Chapel Hill head coach Sylvia Hatchell, and more. (A full list of speakers is available below.)
The tour built upon the momentum the Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition has generated over the past two years standing up for women and girls and fighting against the radical left’s assault on the very concept of womanhood — creating the largest, most ideologically diverse women’s movement of our time.
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.
“The administration is turning back the clock on women’s rights and declaring us unworthy of protection and opportunity,” said Paula Scanlan, former teammate of Lia Thomas who was forced to undress with him up to 18 times per week at the University of Pennsylvania.
Tennis legend and member of the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group Martina Navratilova said including men who identify as women in women’s sports is simply “not possible.” “By allowing trans-identified males in women's sports, you're excluding women.”
“To assume that women need to bear the burden of someone else’s gender identity is a burden that’s uniquely put on women,” Independent Women’s Law Center Director May Mailman said. “It is discriminatory.”
“This is the most anti-woman, anti-reality pursuit we have seen from this administration,” said 12x All American, Independent Women’s Forum ambassador, and OutKick.com host Riley Gaines. “The war on women is in full effect.”
While the tour received overwhelming support, not everyone agreed with it. In addition to attacks and name calling from those hidden behind keyboards and usernames, overnight vandals defaced the “Take Back Title IX” bus following an Our Bodies, Our Sports rally in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The attack boosted enthusiasm and engagement leading into the tour’s final leg of events.
The final stretch of the tour took place during National Women’s Sports Week [June 23-29], initiated by Independent Women’s Forum in 2022 and observed annually during the week of June 23 to coincide with the anniversary of Title IX. In recognition of Women’s Sports Week, the tour held two special events featuring music performances in Washington, DC, and Nashville, TN, presented by OutKick.com, to celebrate female athletes – past, present, and future – for their athletic participation and achievement in sport.
Country artists Jeffrey Steele and Alexis Wilkins performed. Steele, an award-winning songwriter, wrote an updated verse in his song made popular by Eric Church, ‘Stick That in Your Country Song,’ for Riley Gaines.
On the final stops of the tour, supporters had the opportunity to sign two open letters – one to the Biden administration and the other to leadership in Congress. The letters were on display on large 4-ft boards for attendees to sign to showcase the widespread support to protect women’s sports and stop the illegal rewrite of Title IX.. The letter to Congress urges bipartisan support for the bicameral Congressional Review Act resolution (S.J. Res. 96 & H.J. Res. 165) to overturn the administration’s Title IX rule.
The letters can be viewed HERE and HERE.
The Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition plans additional work this summer and into the fall advocating to support Title IX in its original form and to return fair play for women and girls.
Direct all media inquiries to press@ourbodiesoursports.com.
Click HERE to see all stops on the Our Bodies, Our Sports’ landmark “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Our Bodies, Our Sports Coalition Kicks Off Coast-to-Coast Summer 2024 Bus Tour To Take Back Title IX & Protect Women’s Sports
The Largest, Most Ideologically Diverse, Women’s Movement of Our Time
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Our Bodies, Our Sports today announced the launch of a landmark “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour across America featuring former Olympians, NCAA athletes, highschool athletes, coaches, and prominent women’s advocates. The tour, 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, will call attention to the Biden administration’s Title IX regulations and the devastating impact the new rules will have on women and the growing threat to women’s equal athletic opportunity, privacy, and safety.
The tour will hit the road next week with its first stop in Scranton, Pennsylvania on May 29. From there, the tour will travel coast to coast throughout the month of June holding events in cities and towns throughout the nation. The tour bus will appear in Oklahoma, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, Washington D.C., Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin, and Maryland.
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 bus will roll into Washington, D.C. and on Tuesday, June 25 a rally event will be held at The Bullpen (1201 Half St SE, Washington, DC 20003) to commemorate the final annual celebration of the landmark sex equality law before the unlawful rewrite by the Biden administration 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.
DETAILS:
WHAT: Our Bodies, Our Sports “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour
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 Biden administration regulations violate Title IX, the statute they claim to enforce, by requiring schools to open up women's sports and women's spaces to males. It's time to fight back.
WHEN: May 29 - June 28, 2024
WHERE:
Scranton, PA 5/29
Lancaster, PA 5/31
Oklahoma City, OK 6/7
Whitefish, MT 6/10
Las Vegas, NV 6/12
Scottsdale, AZ 6/13
Omaha, NE 6/16
Columbus, OH 6/18
Charleston, WV 6/19
Chapel Hill, NC 6/20
Washington, DC 6/25
Virginia Beach, VA 6/27
Nashville, TN 6/28
More stops to be added.
Special guest speakers along the tour include:
Martina Navratilova, OLY, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, founding member of the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group
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
Tulsi Gabbard, former U.S. Representative (D-HI), original sponsor of the Protect Women’s Sports Act
Paula Scanlan, former University of Pennsylvania swimmer and Independent Women's Forum ambassador
Payton McNabb, former high school volleyball player and Independent Women’s Forum ambassador
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
Nancy Hogshead J.D., OLY, Champion Women CEO; civil rights lawyer; 2x Olympian; 3x gold medalist and one silver in swimming; Women’s Sports Foundation – President, 1991-1993, Legal Advisor, 2003-2010, Senior Director of Advocacy, 2010-2014; and recently named to the U.S. Congressional Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics
Marshi Smith, former NCAA and PAC-10 Champion swimmer from the University of Arizona, and co-founder of Independent Council on Women's Sports (ICONS)
Selina Soule, former elite high school track and field athlete from Connecticut. 10x All Conference, 5x All State, 3x All New England, and 4x National Qualifier track athlete and one of the first advocates for keeping women’s sports for women
Kara Dansky, president of Women’s Declaration International USA
Linnea Saltz, former NCAA track & field athlete from Southern Utah University who competed against June Eastwood, the first male athlete identifying as female to compete in DI cross country
Jen Sey, 7x National Team Member gymnast, 1986 National Champ, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics
Cynthia Monteleone, Team USA world champion track athlete who competed against a male athlete at the World Championship
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
Macy Petty, former NCAA volleyball player and Concerned Women for America ambassador
And more!
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 23, 2024
MEMBERS OF THE COALITION
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