Joe Biden’s presidency is bad news for at least one group: women.
Even as Biden pays lip service to women’s rights, he is already using his administration to reverse decades of hard-won advances for female athletes while jeopardizing women’s private spaces and perhaps even homeless shelters. Biden is following in the footsteps of former president Barack Obama, who similarly used executive orders and federal agencies to coerce schools and businesses into accepting policies that ultimately harm women and girls.
The repercussions of these policies can be truly devastating. Just ask Selina Soule, a female athlete in Connecticut. Selina was one of the top female high school sprinters in the state, and she had her sights set on reaching the New England Regionals in the 55m dash her junior year and competing on world-class tracks in front of college scouts. She missed the cut for regionals by just two spots—both of which were taken by male athletes. Male athletes won first and second place in her event, knocking Selina and every other girl out of the placements they deserved. As Miguel Cardona, Biden’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Education, made clear at his recent Senate confirmation hearing, every public school in the nation will be pressured to allow males to compete in girls’ sports and deny female athletes the chance for fair competition.
Or ask Alexis Lightcap, a young woman from Boyertown, Pennsylvania. In 2017, under policies similar to those Biden has promised to enact, Alexis’ high school quietly started allowing boys to use the girls’ restrooms and locker rooms. Alexis didn’t know about the changes until she walked into the girls’ restroom one day only to find a biological male. In shock, Alexis went to a teacher, expecting the school to stand up for her right to physical privacy. Instead, the school told her that there was nothing it could do; she and all the other girls at the school would just have to get used to sharing restrooms and locker rooms with male classmates.
Or, if that isn’t enough, talk to some of the homeless women who nightly take shelter at the Downtown Hope Center in Anchorage, Alaska. Many of these women are fleeing abusive situations or have trauma from being abused or even trafficked. Downtown Hope Center provides these women with a safe, warm place to have a meal and spend the night. But one night, a drunken, visibly injured male came to the center, said that he identified as female, and demanded to be allowed to sleep in the common sleeping area—just feet from the homeless women, many of whom were fleeing sexual abuse. The center’s director helped the individual get to the hospital to receive needed medical care, even paying for the taxi. In the days that followed, Anchorage officials tried to punish the women’s shelter for not admitting the male to sleep alongside the vulnerable women instead.
In each of these situations, Alliance Defending Freedom stood up for the women involved. With the help of ADF, Selina filed a lawsuit against the state athletic association, arguing that female athletes have a right to fair competition—which means they cannot be forced to compete against physically bigger, faster, and stronger male athletes. Alexis joined other students in a lawsuit against her school, asking that the school protect her privacy in restrooms and locker rooms. Downtown Hope Center pushed back on Anchorage’s unfair, unsafe demands, insisting that the women they serve have a right to a safe place to sleep.
Women’s rights are in jeopardy, and the Biden administration promises to make this worse. The next four years will contain more tragic situations like those faced by Selina, Alexis, and the women at Downtown Hope Center. But no matter what new challenges arise for women’s rights in the coming years, ADF will remain on the front lines protecting women’s privacy, safety, and fair play.
Christiana Holcomb is legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom (@Alliance Defends).
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.