Risch honors Ehardt for defending Title IX and promoting women in athletics
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IDAHO FALLS – U.S. Senator Jim Risch presented Idaho Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, with a gold letter for her work protecting female athletes and fairness in women’s sports on Wednesday at his regional office in Idaho Falls.
“Today, I join Idaho’s State Representative Barbara Ehardt to recognize and honor her enduring fight to protect Title IX and the freedoms of female athletes,” Risch said.
Ehardt has been a national advocate pushing back against the Biden-Harris administration’s redefinition of Title IX.
“Title IX changed my life,” she said.
As an eight-year-old girl, she told people she wanted to play sports when she grew up.
“I literally was told, that’s not what girls do,” Ehardt said. “So I held on to my dreams, kept going, had that opportunity to certainly play through high school, play collegiately on a division one scholarship and then embark on a 15-year NCAA Division One coaching career at four fantastic institutions.”
As a state legislator, Ehardt co-sponsored the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” in 2020, making Idaho the first state to require student athletes to compete on teams that correspond with their biological sex.
“For more than 50 years, Title IX has been instrumental in leveling the playing field for women’s sports,” Risch said.“… By recognizing the fundamental, biological differences between men and women, Title IX allows each to pursue educational programs and activities equally, including athletics.”
The original Title IX regulation stated, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
But on April 19, the U.S. Department of Education changed Title IX to prohibit “discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.”
“Title IX is 37 words,” Ehardt said. “The Biden administration has rewritten that to a ridiculous amount of 1500 pages, basically based on punishment in categories that go way beyond sports if you don’t adhere to their gender-affirming (regulations).”
The revised rules allow transgender men access to women’s sports and private spaces.
“Does anybody realize the damage this is doing to girls and women by forcing our girls and women to have to share locker rooms and spaces and bench seats with these boys and men?” Ehardt said. “I mean, that’s way beyond not comfortable.”
Four universities forfeit games
Risch’s recognition of Ehardt comes less than two weeks after Boise State University’s volleyball team announced on Sept. 28 that it would be forfeiting its match against San Jose State, whose team includes a transgender athlete.
Since Sept. 17, Southern Utah University, University of Wyoming and Utah State have also declined to play against San Jose State.
“I applaud Boise State University for working within the spirit of my Executive Order, the Defending Women’s Sports Act,” Gov. Brad Little said in a statement. “We need to ensure player safety for all of our female athletes and continue the fight for fairness in women’s sports.”
The NCAA ruled that the matches will be considered “no contest,” Ehardt said. But under Mountain West Conference policy, the forfeits count as losses.
Ehardt said San Jose’s transgender volleyball player, Blaire Fleming, has helped San Jose dominate on the court.
“The play of Blaire Fleming is pretty outstanding. No one can jump as high as Fleming. No one can block Fleming,” she said. “They decided to put Fleming on full display. Remember that guys play on nets that are higher than the women’s. We’ve got some pictures where Fleming is just over the net peering down on the women as he spikes the ball.”
One of Fleming’s teammates, Brooke Slusser, has joined a lawsuit against the NCAA for its gender identity regulations.
“You can identify however you want, and we’re accepting of that,” Ehardt said. “But this is about one’s sex, and so the entire premise of Title IX is based on sex – either you’re male or you’re female…We all know that men are stronger, better, quicker, faster than women are, when you’re talking about athletes of the same caliber. If we want to preserve our opportunities, then we need to keep men out of the sport.”
