Idaho Governor Signs Women’s Sports Defense Act, Fighting Biden-Harris Title IX Transgender Policy Changes

Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed an executive order opposing the Biden-Harris administration’s final Title IX rule, documents obtained by Fox News Digital confirm.

The regulation is titled “Act in Defense of Women’s Sport”.

The executive order directs the Idaho State Board of Education to ensure two things:

1. Work with the State Department of Education to ensure that Idaho public schools comply with all Idaho laws regarding integrity in women’s sports and keep all public schools informed of legal challenges to the new Title IX regulations.

2. Ensure that every female student in the state of Idaho receives equal opportunities in sports and school to the full extent guaranteed in the original Title IX provisions and Idaho law.

“These girls and women and their families dedicate their time, passion and money to improve their skills and compete to win,” Little told reporters on the steps of the Idaho State Capitol in Boise on Wednesday. “They deserve an equal opportunity. That’s why it’s so important for us as a state to do everything we can to protect and defend women’s sports.”

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Also speaking at the press conference was former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines, who is also the host of the “Gaines for Girls” podcast on OutKick.

“I can wholeheartedly attest to the unfair composition, the tears I saw not only from mothers in the stands who watched their daughters be destroyed in the sport they once loved, but also from girls who finished ninth and 17th and were not called All-Americans from the same spot,” Gaines said. “I’m thrilled to be here today with these legislators, with Governor Little, who says Idaho will not comply.”

The current administration’s Title IX final rule went into effect this month and aims to protect against discrimination “based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.”

On August 16, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to deny the current administration’s emergency request to implement part of a new rule that includes non-discrimination protections for transgender students under Title IX.

The request would have biological males allowed in women’s restrooms, locker rooms and dormitories in 10 states that have state and local laws in place to prevent it.

That rule, issued in April, clarified that Title IX’s prohibition against discrimination “on the basis of sex” in schools includes discrimination on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation and “pregnancy or related conditions.”

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Little’s executive order is the latest step in a fight against the new final rule. More than two dozen Republican attorneys general have sued over the rule, arguing it would violate some of their state laws that block transgender students from participating in women’s sports.

The Biden administration has insisted the rule does not apply to athletic eligibility. But many experts He presented evidence in June to Fox News Digital rejecting Biden’s claims.

One incident occurred in West Virginia after the Save Women Sports Act of 2021 passed, banning transgender girls from competing in sports against biological girls. Then, a 13-year-old transgender high school student in West Virginia, known as BPJ, obtained a court order prohibiting her from competing in women’s sports.

“We wanted to avoid sexual harassment of girls in the locker room, to avoid women being disqualified from playing on their own teams, and unfortunately, during the trial, West Virginia’s role was limited to just that one player,” Rachel Rouleau, general counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), previously told Fox News Digital.

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Meanwhile, Gaines is currently facing a lawsuit that is alleged to have had to compete and share a locker room with a biological male at the college level. Gaines has agreed to testify in Georgia about her experiences competing and sharing a locker room with a biological male, Lia Thomas, along with four other American NCAA female athletes, Fox News Digital previously reported.

Gaines joins Reki Gyorgy, Kylee Alons, Grace Countie and Kaitlynn Wheeler, all members of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), which filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) in March, alleging that the association knowingly violated Title IX regulations by allowing Thomas to compete.

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