Testa Calls for Passage of “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” Following Congressional Action

Senator Michael Testa called for the New Jersey Legislature to advance a proposal he sponsors to protect women’s sports to complement recent congressional action that is intended to preserve the spirit of Title IX.

“Title IX was adopted in 1972 to ensure that girls and women are not discriminated against and have a fair playing field in sports and other school-related activities,” said Testa (R-1). “Sadly, that fair playing field that girls have enjoyed for 50 years is slowly disappearing as more male athletes who identify as transgender are choosing to compete in women’s sports, including swimming, track, and even power lifting. The House of Representatives was absolutely right to take action last week to protect women’s sports from this full frontal assault, and New Jersey shouldn’t hesitate to do the same.”

The House of Representatives in Congress passed H.R.734 on April 20. The “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023” amends Title IX to “provide that for purposes of determining compliance with Title IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

In New Jersey, Senator Testa sponsors similar legislation, S-589, the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.”

Testa’s bill, first introduced in 2021, requires that participation in school-sanctioned sports be based on biological sex at birth. It provides that public and nonpublic schools, as well as institutions of higher education, designate athletic or sports teams on the basis of biological sex. The bill also prohibits any athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls from being open to males.

With more biological men participating in competitive female athletics, Testa said legislators have a responsibility to act to maintain the protections and fairness long offered by Title IX.

“You only need to see the way biologically male athletes like Lia Thomas tower over their female competition to realize that transgender athletes have an unfair advantage,” added Testa. “It’s a bigger problem than just the appearance of unfairness, it’s increasingly borne out in the final results of competitions where women have been crowded off the winners’ podium by transgender athletes. If we want our daughters to have the same opportunity to train hard, compete, and win that their mothers enjoyed under Title IX, we have a responsibility to act now to protect women’s sports.”