Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office will investigate a women’s weightlifting competition after it awarded a trans-identifying competitor first prize.
The 2025 World’s Strongest Woman held in Arlington, Texas, over the weekend awarded biological male Jammie Booker first place in the competition. Booker’s inclusion in the event and eventual first place prize sparked protest from the competition’s runner-up, Andrea Thompson, to leave the podium in protest.
&#8220;Attorney General Paxton will not allow the radical left to sacrifice the integrity of girls&#8217; sports on the altar of their delusional transgender agenda. The OAG is investigating this incident and will take any and all actions to protect women&#8217;s sports both in Texas and across the nation,&#8221; Paxton&#8217;s office told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/sports/texas-ag-investigating-weightlifting-competition-trans-athlete-compete-women">Fox News</a>.
Official Strongman, which ran the competition, later <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/worlds-strongest-woman-winner-stripped-of-title-after-organizers-find-out-hes-a-man?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=World%E2%80%99s+Strongest+Woman+Winner+Stripped+Of+Title+After+Organizers+Find+Out+He%E2%80%99s+A+Man">disqualified</a> Booker after organizers said they were unaware of Booker’s sex.
“Official Strongman is inclusive and proud to run events which do not discriminate against athletes based on personal characteristics. Any athlete is welcome. But it is our responsibility to ensure fairness and ensure athletes are assigned to men or women’s categories based on whether they are recorded as male or female at birth,” the organization said in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialStrongmanWSM/posts/pfbid0t2PgVVznQX7RTjHyaab5MU1T5SuNuqjYvjgtGKK1ugCsvxEYa4f7wkzmXkHzMTY3l?rdid=cI7Q2fP7va6sK5JZ#">statement</a>.
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“Given this, we have disqualified the athlete in question from the Official Strongman World Championships 2025. All athlete points and places will be altered accordingly to ensure that the rightful places are allocated to each of the Women’s Open athletes,” it said.
At the award ceremony, Thompson, a former champion, was heard muttering “this is bulls***” as she stepped off the podium.
Booker’s victory ignited backlash across the sport as weightlifters blasted the competition and the inclusion of a male athlete in women’s sport. Three-time World’s Strongest Woman Rebecca Roberts called Thompson the true winner and insisted that “[w]omen’s divisions must remain biologically female-only.”
2023 World’s Strongest Man Mitchell Hooper said in a video that “the first time I saw Jammie, I said: ‘This woman looks different.’” He knocked Booker’s inclusion in the competition, stating, “There is a time when you have to take a stand for women’s sports.”

Weights

Ken Paxton To Probe Women’s Weightlifting Competition After Trans-Identified Athlete Wins Gold

Ken Paxton

Social Issues

Texas

Transgender

Transgender Athletes

U.S.

WNBA Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said it&#8217;s likely that elite 8th grade male basketball players could beat professional female athletes, noting men&#8217;s obvious physical advantages over women.
Cunningham&#8217;s comments, which were made on her podcast &#8220;Show Me Something,&#8221; completely contradict the Left-wing transgender narrative claiming that what determines gender is self-described identity; or, further, that males don&#8217;t really have physical advantages over females.
&#8220;This is my personal opinion,&#8221; Cunningham told her co-host West Wilson, Outkick <a href="https://www.outkick.com/sports/sophie-cunningham-backs-michael-porter-jr-8th-grade-boys-wnba-stars">reported</a>. &#8220;If you are a professional football player, basketball player, really any sport &#8230; to me, if you&#8217;re in that elite level group, yeah, you should be able to beat the girls. I&#8217;m not surprised by that.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s probably true. I don&#8217;t want to be unrealistic or delusional,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Men are just stronger, bigger, athletic. They just are a different build. So if you put them up against females, I&#8217;m like, well, yeah they&#8217;re gonna win, duh.&#8221;
Cunningham, who is set to become a free agent, made the remarks in response to NBA player Michael Lamar Porter Jr., who recently said he thinks elite male athletes as young as 8th grade could beat WNBA players. Porter said he was merely speaking from experience, referencing a time in middle school when he apparently dominated in a practice against Cunningham, then playing college ball.
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&#8220;I&#8217;ma go, probably, 8th grade, because I have real experience doing this,&#8221; Porter said, when asked what age elite males could beat pro females. &#8220;They went to University of Missouri, and I was still a young dude, and they had me playing on the scout team, and they had a few WNBA players on their team, like Sophie Cunningham, and a couple others. I think I was in the 7th or 8th grade going dumb. So, I have real-life experience.&#8221;
&#8220;I wish this would stop being a conversation ‘cause it should be common sense, but it’s just not,&#8221; Porter added.
&#8220;If women are saying, ‘He couldn&#8217;t beat them&#8217; &#8212; yeah, he could,&#8221; Cunningham agreed. &#8220;Any NBA star or player could beat a female in high school &#8230; I just don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s a fair matchup.&#8221;
The Fever guard further defended Porter, saying that he was asked his opinion and answered honestly and calling the &#8220;context&#8221; of his comments &#8220;fair.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Sophie Cunningham, who Michael Porter Jr. claims he beat in a Mizzou basketball practice in 8th grade, reacted to MPJ’s recent comments:
“I mean, it’s probably true. I think, if you are a professional [athlete], if you’re in that elite level group, yea you should be able to… <a href="https://t.co/pVbrxyYShV">pic.twitter.com/pVbrxyYShV</a>
— Courtside Buzz (@CourtsideBuzzX) <a href="https://twitter.com/CourtsideBuzzX/status/1992666783627833612?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wnba-player-rips-refs-for-allowing-cheap-shots-on-caitlin-clark-says-she-had-to-act">WNBA Player Rips Refs For Allowing Cheap Shots On Caitlin Clark, Says She Had To Act</a>

Chicago Sky v Indiana Fever

WNBA Star Throws Cold Water On Transgender Narrative

Sports

WNBA

An activist researcher who said he was working on a study on &#8220;trans youth athletes&#8221; funded by Nike says the funding was cut by the world&#8217;s largest athletic gear company after &#8220;haters got wind of it.&#8221;
Reports that Nike was funding the study on children&#8217;s athletic abilities during so-called &#8220;gender-affirming&#8221; procedures first arose earlier this year, when one of the researchers, Joanna Harper, told the New York Times that they were running fitness tests on children as they underwent them. Harper, a man who ran marathons for years before identifying as a woman in the early 2000s, now <a href="https://www.outsports.com/2025/11/11/24121287/joanna-harper-trans-women-athletes-research-nike/">tells</a> OutSports, an LGBT sports website, that Nike walked away from the study after political pressure.
Specifically, pressure from Se. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who <a href="https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/outkick-sen-tommy-tuberville-slams-nike-and-maine-governor-over-support-for-males-in-womens-sports/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThese%20governors%20need%20to%20stand,Great%20question%2C%20Senator.">slammed Nike</a> for their lack of support for women&#8217;s sports and their funding of a study on children&#8217;s athletic abilities during &#8220;gender-affirming&#8221; care. OutSports called Tuberville &#8220;one of the most vocal transphobes in elected office.&#8221;
Tuberville wasn&#8217;t the only person who blasted Nike for reportedly being part of the study. After <a href="http://outkick.com/sports/nike-funding-study-transgender-athletes">OutKick</a> questioned Nike on its involvement in this study, some of the biggest names in sports, including Charles Barkley, spoke out against studying kids under the influence of unnatural hormones. OutKick reported back in April that a Nike executive <a href="https://www.outkick.com/sports/researcher-nike-pulled-plug-transgender-youth-athlete-study">told</a> the outlet the study &#8220;was never initialized&#8221; and wasn&#8217;t moving forward. Harper implied Nike had to make the &#8220;corporate decision&#8221; to move on from the study.
&#8220;I understand in the wake of what happened to Bud Light that Nike got nervous,&#8221; Harper said.
Harper, who is also a professor at Oregon Health &amp; Science University, said he wishes Nike hadn&#8217;t pulled out of the study.
&#8220;It was a study of fitness test results in trans adolescents,&#8221; Harper told OutSports. &#8220;And while there’s limited data on trans adults, there’s no published data on trans adolescents and their athletic capabilities. This was an exciting study.&#8221;
Harper, however, appears to have already reached his conclusion before conducting the study.
“Trans women aren’t men,” Harper told the pro-transgenderism website, rejecting the idea that transgender-identifying men should compete against other men.
“They don’t compete like men, don’t look like men and that would bring trans women into an arena where they are not welcome, not wanted and in danger,&#8221; Harper said.
Harper first broke the news of this study when he was interviewed for a New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/magazine/trans-athletes-women-college-sports.html">story</a> on trans-identifying volleyball player, Blair Fleming. Harper told the outlet that the study, funded by Nike, would use a 10-step fitness test to measure kids&#8217; skills before they start hormone therapy and after they medically transition. The study would repeat the fitness test every six months for five years.
The reported experimentations with children and their bodies was the latest push to justify men competing against women. Fleming was part of the International Olympic Committee&#8217;s decision to let men compete in the women&#8217;s category with testosterone suppression. The International Olympic Committee is now reportedly planning to ban men competing in women&#8217;s sports.
Nike did not respond to a request for comment on Harper&#8217;s claims.

Footwear, apparel and equipment manufacturer Nike (USA)

Activist Says Nike Yanked Funding From His Study On Trans Kids: ‘Haters Got Wind Of It’

News

Nike

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is reportedly preparing to announce a ban on transgender athletes competing in women&#8217;s sports categories early next year, following a scientific review concluding that biological males retain permanent physical advantages even after hormone treatment.
<div>
According to sources inside the organization, the move marks a major shift under new IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who has <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/sport/olympics/article/olympic-ioc-transgender-athlete-ban-womens-sports-zhlpfll3b?srsltid=AfmBOoqsgJXmVyDjAoL7xCJH3svNhZYfshQXa37cfT0MRck84bl7NOqV">vowed</a> to protect the integrity of women’s competition.
</div>
<div>
For years, the IOC has allowed transgender-identifying males to compete if they reduced testosterone levels below 10 nanomoles per liter for at least 12 months, leaving enforcement up to each sport. That approach led to inconsistent policies across Olympic disciplines, with sports such as swimming and track already implementing bans on biological males in women’s events while others, including soccer, did not.
</div>
<div>
Dr. Jane Thornton, the IOC’s medical and scientific director and a former Olympic rower for Canada, presented findings from the organization’s evidence review in Lausanne last week. One IOC member described her presentation as “scientific, factual, and unemotional,” clearly outlining that male-born athletes maintain significant physical advantages over female-born competitors even after testosterone suppression.
</div>
<div>
The new policy, expected to be announced in early 2026, could become formal IOC eligibility criteria rather than simply guidance to individual federations. The organization is reportedly working to ensure the new rules are legally sound before implementation, likely around the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
</div>
<div>
Coventry, a former Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe, has emphasized the need to protect fairness for women while maintaining consultation with sports bodies. “We should make the effort to place emphasis on the protection of the female category,” she said in June, stressing a “scientific approach.”
</div>
<div>
The pending rule change follows widespread controversy at the Paris 2024 Games, when two boxers — Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting — both won gold medals in women’s boxing after being previously disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failing gender eligibility tests.
</div>
<div>
Despite the IBA determining that Khelif failed a chromosome test, the IOC allowed the athlete to compete based solely on passport gender, dismissing testosterone testing as “irrelevant.” The IBA has since reinstated mandatory sex testing and stated that Khelif would not be eligible for future women’s competition without verification.
</div>
<div>
The debate over fairness in women’s sports has intensified since the IOC <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics-transgender-athlete-rules-ioc-policy-framework-194620455.html">abandoned</a> its testosterone-based policy in 2021, claiming there should be “no presumption of advantage” for transgender-identifying males and urging international federations to determine eligibility independently.
</div>
<div>
That policy was hailed by transgender activists and athletes like the Canadian soccer player who identifies as transgender and non-binary, who goes by the mononym Quinn.
Quinn, who claims trans athletes compete “without any inherent advantage,” became the first openly trans athlete to win an Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
</div>
<div>
However, a 2021 report from the U.K. Sports Councils Equality Group contradicted that claim, finding that male-to-female transgender athletes retain significant physical advantages and “it is impossible to guarantee both safety and fairness” if they are allowed to compete in women’s events.
</div>
<div>
The upcoming IOC policy shift appears to align with that conclusion — acknowledging what many athletes and scientists have long said: that male biology provides lasting competitive benefits that testosterone reduction cannot erase.
</div>
<div>
After years of controversy, the IOC now seems poised to follow the evidence — and to finally draw a clear line to protect fairness in women’s sports.
</div>

Imane Khelif of Team Algeria celebrates victory against Anna Luca Hamori of Team Hungary after the Women’s 66kg Quarter-final round match on day eight of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at North Paris Arena on August 03, 2024 in Paris, France.

International Olympic Committee Eyes Ban On Transgender Athletes In Women’s Events

Medical Research

Olympics

World

The captains of Angel City Football Club, a professional soccer team, have labeled their teammate Elizabeth Eddy racist and transphobic after the player called in an <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/10/27/opinion/national-womens-soccer-league-must-adopt-gender-standards-to-keep-growing/">op-ed</a> for stricter gender guidelines in the National Women&#8217;s Soccer League (NWSL).
Sarah Gorden and Angelina Anderson claim the entire Angel City FC is disgusted with Eddy&#8217;s op-ed.
The piece, published in the New York Post on October 27, stated that women should be the only players competing in the NWSL in order to grow and protect the league. Eddy said, &#8220;I’m concerned that without clarity about who the league is for, it will lose its identity and its momentum.&#8221;
The professional soccer player suggested gene testing, which other sports leagues have implemented, as one way to ensure the women playing women&#8217;s soccer are actually women.
&#8220;The NWSL must adopt a clear standard,&#8221; Eddy wrote. &#8220;One option is all players must be born with ovaries, as the FA requires. Another option is an SRY gene test, like those World Athletics and World Boxing implemented.&#8221;
Her teammates responded negatively.
&#8220;The undertones come across as transphobic, and racist as well,&#8221; Sarah Gorden said at a press conference, the recording of which was posted to the team&#8217;s official <a href="https://x.com/weareangelcity/status/1984318024518631508?s=12&amp;t=A3fcQmBTc_xjf_6w2Ow4nA">X account</a>.
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Gorden went on to say in the video that the op-ed, combined with the featured image being of a black player, was &#8220;inherently racist.&#8221;
&#8220;As a mixed woman with a black family, I&#8217;m devastated by this article,&#8221; Gorden added.
Anderson said that when she thinks of Los Angeles, she thinks of inclusivity, which Eddy actually said she stands for in her op-ed.
&#8220;Addressing this challenge entails remembering why women’s sports categories exist in the first place,&#8221; Eddy said. &#8220;Not to exclude but to create a space where female athletes can physically compete on equal footing.&#8221;
Angel City FC&#8217;s season ended Sunday in a loss to Chicago.

Soccer ball

Teammates Publicly Turn On Player Who Wants To Keep Men Out Of Women’s Soccer

Soccer

Women's Soccer

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took a cheap shot at former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines on Monday, siding with trans-identifying men over women in her desperation to land an attack on Gaines.
The spat — which played out on X — began on Sunday with a photo Gaines posted from a New York City political rally. The photo showed Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), both of whom self-identify as democratic socialists, campaigning for a fellow socialist — Zohran Mamdani — in New York City&#8217;s mayoral race.
&#8220;We&#8217;re being destroyed from within,&#8221; Gaines posted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We&#8217;re being destroyed from within <a href="https://t.co/hsD3mYkc6t">pic.twitter.com/hsD3mYkc6t</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1982654572075360550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez jabbed back, referencing the 2022 NCAA championships where Gaines had tied for 5th place with trans-identifying male swimmer Lia Thomas.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It&#8217;s *always* &#8220;we support women&#8217;s rights!&#8221; until it&#8217;s a woman who wants the right to compete &amp; undress free from less than mediocre men
Keep your mentally ill men out of our sports, locker rooms, prisons, etc.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1982885793954967637?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;It&#8217;s *always* &#8216;we support women&#8217;s rights!&#8217; until it&#8217;s a woman who wants the right to compete &amp; undress free from less than mediocre men,&#8221; Gaines replied. &#8220;Keep your mentally ill men out of our sports, locker rooms, prisons, etc.&#8221;
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&#8220;It’s always hilarious when they think they’ve landed a &#8216;gotcha&#8217; by pointing out I was the 5th-fastest woman *in the nation* yet they conveniently forget the mediocre man who ranked 462nd in the men’s division lol. Misogynistic dunce,&#8221; Gaines added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It’s always hilarious when they think they’ve landed a “gotcha” by pointing out I was the 5th-fastest woman *in the nation* yet they conveniently forget the mediocre man who ranked 462nd in the men’s division lol
Misogynistic dunce <a href="https://t.co/d1aiAHHoYQ">https://t.co/d1aiAHHoYQ</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1982886290912883102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Gaines, host of OutKick&#8217;s &#8220;Gaines for Girls&#8221; podcast, joined Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;The Ingraham Angle&#8221; and challenged Ocasio-Cortez to debate her.
&#8220;I’ll debate her anytime. She can defend socialism — I’ll defend capitalism. She can defend removing God — I’ll defend a biblical worldview. She can defend child sacrifice — I’ll defend the sanctity of life,&#8221; the 12-time All American offered.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨RILEY GAINES CHALLENGES <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AOC</a> 🚨
“I’ll debate her anytime. She can defend socialism — I’ll defend capitalism. She can defend removing God — I’ll defend a biblical worldview. She can defend child sacrifice — I’ll defend the sanctity of life.” —<a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Riley_Gaines_</a> <a href="https://t.co/teaTLDh5Vp">pic.twitter.com/teaTLDh5Vp</a>
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) <a href="https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/1982979855772987600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Ocasio-Cortez tried to jab at Gaines again, responding to her debate challenge by saying, &#8220;And I would like to challenge this person to get a real job.&#8221;
&#8220;I have a real job. I&#8217;m a mom. It&#8217;s the most important &amp; rewarding job in the world. I think if you had a baby girl like I do, you&#8217;d understand my positions a little better,&#8221; was Gaines&#8217; reply.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I have a real job. I&#8217;m a mom. It&#8217;s the most important &amp; rewarding job in the world.
I think if you had a baby girl like I do, you&#8217;d understand my positions a little better. <a href="https://t.co/to8syxkXjP">https://t.co/to8syxkXjP</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1983009006122684775?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Photo courtesy of Riley Gaines

AOC Takes Cheap Shot At Riley Gaines, And Gaines Lets Her Have It: ‘Misogynistic Dunce’

AOC Takes Cheap Shot At Riley Gaines, And Gaines Lets Her Have It: 'Misogynistic Dunce'

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

General

Lia Thomas

Politics

Riley Gaines

Social Media

There may be no state legislator more popular at The Daily Wire than Laurel Libby.
She took a bold stand for girl’s sport in Maine and refused to budge. But it wasn’t always that way.
As Libby explains, she once failed to stand strong for what was right. Never again. — The Daily Wire
* * *
America’s founders appropriately recognized freedom of speech as the most fundamental right for a flourishing republic. But in today’s America, telling the truth carries a cost.
From social media bans to government censorship to silencing dissent inside our statehouses, the message is clear: if you dare to speak the truth, you will pay a price.
I witnessed this firsthand in Maine’s Democrat-controlled state house, where I was stripped of my right to speak for the people of Maine as their elected representative simply for highlighting biological differences between boys and girls in a state competition.
And the problem is getting worse, not better. Without a renewed commitment to our founding ideals, our society may become free in theory, but authoritarian in practice.
My experience in Maine began in February with a viral social media post. A biological male, who had placed fifth in the boys’ competition the year prior, won the girls’ state pole vault championship. Seeing his female competitor relegated to second place broke my heart.
I could not remain silent.
I posted two publicly available photos side by side. One showed the athlete finishing fifth in the boys’ competition one year; the other showed him taking gold in the girls’ competition the next. Official results had already been available for all to see, but this picture made the unfairness of the situation crystal clear.
Girls in Maine, and across the country, were being forced to compete on unequal terms – not only to justify a political cause, but to signal obedience to an ideology that punishes anyone who questions it.
And punished I was. 
The Maine House Speaker demanded I delete my post. When I refused, I was stripped of my right to speak or vote in the Legislature. Unless and until I issued a formal apology, I would remain barred from representing the nearly 9,000 constituents who elected me.
This wasn’t the first time legislative leadership in Maine used procedural tools to suppress dissent. In May of 2021, the Democratic legislative leadership issued a mask mandate, solely for the State House, after Governor Janet Mills had lifted the state mask mandate.
As a result, Mainers were denied their First Amendment right to assemble, to petition their government, and to speak freely, unless they traded a piece of their liberty. 
I knew it was wrong, and alongside five colleagues, I walked in without a mask.
In response, the Speaker stripped us of our committee assignments and barred us from voting. I agonized over what to do, but in the end, I put a face shield back on, telling myself it was my duty to vote for my constituents.
But the truth is I failed to stand strong in defense of the First Amendment. And that failure taught me that when you give in to fear and intimidation, it only encourages more of both.
This year, I chose not to make the same mistake.
Now, in February, I was confronted with a choice again: to give in or keep fighting. For Maine, for our girls, and for our First Amendment, I chose to fight. 
I filed suit against the Legislature after they barred me for exercising my right to speak truthfully about protecting girls’ sports. And the Supreme Court ruled in my favor and restored my vote!
It was, by any normal standard, the right outcome. But it should never have been necessary. An elected official was forced to file a lawsuit to fulfill her duty to the people of Maine, all because she took a stand for women and girls.
These are the things of totalitarian governments, not the United States.
We still talk about the First Amendment as though it protects us in practice as well as in theory. But in much of American life, the real barriers to speech are procedural, reputational and cultural. They come from norms that shift depending on the issue at hand and the politics of the speaker.
When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, I was in Washington, DC. I called home to tell my older children, and my teenager’s first question stopped me in my tracks: “Mom, are you going to stop speaking up?” Without hesitation, I answered: “No. Absolutely not.”
If we stay silent now, we surrender the foundation of liberty. If we bow to intimidation, we hand our children a future where truth is unwelcome and freedom is conditional.
This is not someone else’s fight. It is ours. Parents, teachers, students, pastors, lawmakers, citizens – every one of us has a role to play in protecting the space to speak truthfully, even when it costs us.
This moment is where we stand to lose, or gain, the most. The only way we lose is if we make the choice to silence ourselves.
We cannot be silent. We must speak. We must stand. There is too much at stake to do otherwise.
 * * * 
Laurel Libby is a member of the House of Representatives in Maine.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Maine legislature

Silenced In Maine: How Standing Up For Girl’s Sports Cost Me My Voice

Silenced In Maine: How Standing Up For Girl's Sports Cost Me My Voice

Democrats

Gender

gender ideology

Leftists

Maine

Opinion

Republicans

California gubernatorial candidate Betty Yee, a Democrat, told host Piers Morgan that she would be in favor of considering a “gender neutral” Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, arguing that trans-identifying female athletes are women and that biological women would be fine competing against them.
Yee made the comments on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” just days after one of her competitors, former Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-episode-drops-in-katie-porter-drama-staffer-takes-verbal-abuse-for-being-in-my-shot">Katie Porter</a> (D-CA), landed in hot water over two viral videos — one of which showed her berating a staffer, and the other a testy exchange with a CBS News reporter in which she refused to answer any follow-up questions.
WATCH:
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&#8220;I think transgender female athletes are women athletes and they should be able to compete.&#8221;
California Governor runner Betty Yee says she would like to see a gender neutral Olympics take place in LA.
Watch more 👇
📺 <a href="https://t.co/twaqLriueU">https://t.co/twaqLriueU</a><a href="https://twitter.com/piersmorgan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@piersmorgan</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/BettyYeeforCA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BettyYeeforCA</a> <a href="https://t.co/c2qHeRqzVD">pic.twitter.com/c2qHeRqzVD</a>
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) <a href="https://twitter.com/PiersUncensored/status/1978192586025341284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“They are now part of — they have been through transition, a physical transition — and I do believe that they should be able to participate with other female athletes,” Yee said.
“Wow,” Morgan replied. “You&#8217;ve got the Olympics coming to California, to L.A., so are you suggesting that you would allow trans athletes to compete in women&#8217;s sport in the Olympics if you were governor?”
“Well, I think there&#8217;s still a lot of discussion that needs to happen,” Yee said. “I think there&#8217;s a lot of information we need to learn about what&#8217;s really happening with the ability of trans athletes to compete, but my statement is about being able to be sure that they can compete, and right now —”
“My question is whether you think they should compete in women&#8217;s sport in the Olympics,” Morgan interrupted. “It&#8217;s coming to L.A., so it&#8217;s relevant.”
“I think transgender female athletes are women athletes,” Yee declared. “And they should be able to compete.”
“Wow,” Morgan responded. “Really? So if you were Governor of California, you would support biological males who identify as women competing in women’s sport in the Olympics?”
Nodding her head slightly, Yee continued, “They are now identifying as transgender female —”
“You think that makes them — and you think it’s fair that they should then compete in women’s sport?” Morgan asked again.
When asked directly why the sexes were separated in sport to begin with, Yee acknowledged that there were physical differences between men and women — but did not alter her position on trans-identifying men competing alongside women.
Morgan continued to press until he finally suggested that she might prefer a “gender neutral” Olympics — and Yee lamented that it wouldn’t be “tomorrow,” but was still “a conversation worth having.”
Sharing the clip a bit later, Morgan quipped, “If you thought Katie Porter’s campaign to be Governor of California was going badly, let me present one of her rivals&#8230;”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
If you thought Katie Porter’s campaign to be Governor of California was going badly, let me present one of her rivals… <a href="https://t.co/g41TZ8d3R6">https://t.co/g41TZ8d3R6</a>
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) <a href="https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1978194332222947756?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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NUHW Governor Candidate Forum

California Candidate Manages To Out-Crazy Katie Porter, Voices Support For ‘Gender Neutral’ Olympics

California Candidate Tells Katie Porter To Hold Her Beer, Supports 'Gender Neutral' Olympics

California

Gavin Newsom

Katie Porter

Los Angeles

Media

Piers Morgan

KMD Brands, the parent company of the popular surf brand Rip Curl, posted an $82.9 million loss and will close 21 retail locations, per a report <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15127941/amp/Major-Australian-retailer-forced-close-stores-records-105millon-loss.html">from</a> The Daily Mail. Rip Curl generated $30.6 million in total revenue in FY25 before taxes, representing a 27% decrease in earnings from the previous year. 
This financial update follows the end of Rip Curl&#8217;s longtime partnership with pro surfer Bethany Hamilton and the release of a promotional clip featuring a transgender-identifying male, which led to boycotts.
The Australia-based KMD <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/09/24/kathmandu-rip-curl-owner-slumps-to-huge-full-year-loss/#:~:text=As%20for%20its%20individual%20businesses,New%20ZealandBusiness">said</a> on Wednesday that it had recently restructured its business in a move designed to save $5 million annually. The results for 2024-25 are significantly worse than those of the previous year, when the company posted a $48.3 million loss, according to 1 News in New Zealand. The outlet noted that the company has not been profitable since the 2014-15 fiscal year.
There is no explicit connection between the company’s poor financial performance and its push for transgender inclusion, but social media users have been pointing to the results as proof of the popular adage, “go woke, go broke.”
In January 2024, the international brand released a documentary ad featuring Sasha Jane Lowerson, a male competing in the women’s category for professional surfing, as part of its “Summer Looks Good on You” campaign. Lowerson <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-10836653/Aussie-trans-surfer-makes-history-winning-title-woman.html">previously competed</a> in the men&#8217;s surfing division under the name Ryan Egan until he began his “gender transition” in 2021.
The video received massive backlash, prompting Rip Curl Women to pull the ad just days later. 
“Our recent post has landed us in the divisive space around transgender participation in competitive sport. We want to promote surfing for everyone in a respectful way but … we upset a lot of people with our post and for that, we are sorry … The surfer featured has not replaced anyone on the Rip Curl team and is not a sponsored athlete,” the company <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C2ytzd6uAVz/">said</a> in a statement at the time.
Meanwhile, Hamilton, an outspoken Christian and critic of males competing in women’s sports, reacted to the promo by <a href="https://x.com/bethanyhamilton/status/1752051389344448993">posting</a> on X, “Male-bodied athletes should not be competing in female sports. Period.”
Hamilton is best known for losing her arm in a shark attack while surfing when she was 13 years old. But instead of letting the accident quell her love for the sport, she went on to compete into adulthood. Her incredible story was turned into both a book and the movie “Soul Surfer.” 
The pro surfer had previously come out against the World Surf League in 2023 when it adopted the International Surfing Association (ISA) policy on transgender participation in the sport. 
&#8220;This concerns me as a professional athlete that has been competing in the World Surf League events for the past 15-plus years,&#8221; Hamilton <a href="https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1622311329821245440">said</a> at the time. 
&#8220;I think many of the girls currently on tour are not in support with this new rule and they fear being ostracized if they speak up,&#8221; she went on. &#8220;We are seeing glimpses of male-bodied dominance in women&#8217;s sports like running, swimming, and others. I personally won&#8217;t be competing in, or supporting, the World Surf League if this rule remains.&#8221;
It’s unclear who initiated the break in sponsorship between Hamilton and Rip Curl, but there’s no denying that the two were at odds when it came to transgender activism. In October 2023, followers noticed that Hamilton’s surfboard, which was always covered in Rip Curl decals, had been stripped bare. 
Hamilton is now sponsored by PublicSquare, an online marketplace that shares her values.
While the exact situation between Hamilton and Rip Curl was never publicly addressed, social media was not kind to the surf brand after it was revealed that it had endorsed males competing in women’s sports.
“Imagine, dropping a phenomenal professional surfer, who survived a shark biting her arm off, only to replace her with a man who pretends to be a woman. Guess what my followers and I will be doing? We will all #BoycottRipCurl,” one person <a href="https://x.com/unhealthytruth/status/1751312157608751228">wrote</a> on X.

RipCurl

Rip Curl Earnings Plunge 27% After Boycotts Tied To Transgender Surfer Promotion

Australia

Business

Economy

Surfing

Women's sports

Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) admitted to FBI Director Kash Patel during a Tuesday hearing that there are, in fact, biological differences between men and women that can greatly impact their physical capabilities.
Hirono, who has repeatedly advocated for men to be allowed to self-identify as females and play in girls&#8217; and women&#8217;s sports leagues, complained during the hearing that FBI applicants were expected to do one pull-up regardless of whether they were male or female.
WATCH:
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🚨WATCH: Sen. Mazie Hirono says female FBI applicants struggle to do pull-ups because of “physiological differences.”
Kash Patel: “If you want to chase down a bad guy and put him in handcuffs you better be able to do a pull-up… Doing one pull-up is not harsh.” <a href="https://t.co/kD571CRi36">pic.twitter.com/kD571CRi36</a>
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1967986968488509733?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;One question I had is that you are now requiring applicants to be able to do a certain kind of pull-ups, which a lot of women can not because of physiological differences,&#8221; Hirono said. &#8220;Are you requiring these kinds of pull-ups?&#8221;
&#8220;We are requiring the physical program at BFTC (Basic Field Training Course) at Quantico because FBI agents carrying guns in the field, have to chase down bad guys, and do really hard work,&#8221; Patel replied. &#8220;The physical fitness standards of those agents —&#8221;
&#8220;So are you requiring these kinds of pull-ups?&#8221; Hirono interrupted.
&#8220;We are requiring everybody to pass the standards at BFTC,&#8221; Patel replied. &#8220;If you want to chase down a bad guy and put him in handcuffs you better be able to do a pull-up.&#8221;
&#8220;The reason I ask is that there are concerns about whether or not being able to do these kinds of harsh pull-ups is really required of FBI agents,&#8221; Hirono tried again.
&#8220;Doing one pull-up is not harsh,&#8221; Patel shot back, adding, &#8220;And there are always medical exemptions to them.&#8221;
Hirono, as recently as April of this year, was complaining about Republican efforts to bar men from playing in women&#8217;s sports in spite of the same &#8220;physiological differences&#8221; she raised concerns about at Tuesday&#8217;s hearing.
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In 100 days, Trump launched an all-out war on diversity &amp; inclusion. Here&#8217;s what that looks like.
Federal diversity programs have been abolished, prompting the firings of 275,000 federal workers.
Diverse histories taught at K-12 schools are on the chopping block.
Trans rights…
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) <a href="https://twitter.com/maziehirono/status/1917357228031631391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Trans rights are being eradicated,&#8221; she claimed. &#8220;Gender self-identification on federal documents are prohibited, specific bathroom access is restricted, trans people are banned from the military, and trans girls can&#8217;t compete on girls’ sports teams in school.&#8221;

Mazie Hirono

Democrat Senator Admits Men And Women Have Physical Differences

kash patel

We&#8217;ve known for a very long time in this country that if you said the wrong thing about the trans issue, you could be canceled.
But now, finally, there are people — heretofore on the Left — who are acknowledging that the threat of cancellation has been real.
This is just one of the beautiful flowering fruits of the Trump administration: people are now free to say things they weren’t allowed to say before.
It’s not clear whether people are deciding that they want to say what is currently more popular or if they genuinely repent having been bullied into acceptance of the trans agenda.
On Wednesday, Malcolm Gladwell, a famous bestselling author, explained his amended point of view on transgender athletes, meaning men playing against women in sports. He was speaking specifically about a 2022 appearance at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, where he moderated a panel discussion in which they talked about the path forward for the inclusion of trans athletes in sports, meaning men competing against women.
On Wednesday, Gladwell stated to 2022 panel co-host Ross Tucker, &#8220;I’m ashamed of my performance at that panel because I share your position 100%, and I was cowed. The idea of saying anything on this issue — I was, I believe in retrospect — in a dishonest way, I was objective in a dishonest way.”
That is honest. Many people were so scared of saying what was obviously true that they didn&#8217;t say it.
This happens all the time in politics. It happened in Great Britain during the Rotherham grooming scandal, when members of the media specifically decided not to cover the fact that there were Muslim grooming gangs, Muslim men, who were grooming underage white girls for sex and then passing them around.
People in the media knew about this, and they decided not to say anything, because to say something would have resulted in censure and public opprobrium as well as people in power suggesting that you were somehow in league with the Right.
And for a very long time in this country and the UK, being in league with the Right was code for being thrown out of public life.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2273-unspoken-truths-on-trans-can-now-be-said?elementPosition=1&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
I don&#8217;t believe that every view is equivalent. I&#8217;m not a moral relativist. I don&#8217;t believe that we should take every view with equal seriousness. I do think that there is an Overton window, meaning the arena of valuable discussion.
The problem is that the Left shut the Overton window so much that if you disagreed with the Left and fundamentally true principles such as “men are not women,” they would throw you out.
So, for many members of the Right, the question becomes: what do you do when Malcolm Gladwell says something like this? What do you do?
The answer is you probably should offer forgiveness. You probably should offer some form of generosity. While you can make the argument that what Gladwell did was cowardly, it’s more about the insane echo chamber that exists in so many of our elite spaces.
The reality is, if you said what Malcolm Gladwell now says in 85% of the country, you&#8217;d be totally fine; it is the mainstream view.
But if you were in the elite circles in which Malcolm Gladwell travels, you would have lost your social standing. You might have lost your job; people would stop reviewing your books. There was a real risk attached.
It is a credit to President Trump and the American people that the Overton window has been opened again. The American people didn’t want to do this anymore. They were done.
That’s not true in Great Britain, where cancel culture has been enshrined in government policy.
What prevents that from happening in the United States is not our magical adherence to First Amendment principles as a people. Unfortunately, there are many, many people in the United States who — if they had the opportunity —would vote to curb free speech. If you look at the polls of young people, young people overwhelmingly believe that hate speech should trump free speech. According to many polls, young people believe there should be legal limits on the kinds of speech one should be allowed to say out loud.
What protects us is the structure of the Constitution. It is the fact that the Constitution bars Congress from doing what the British government is doing in Great Britain. And the Supreme Court has made very clear that in deference to the Constitution, free speech must be protected at the highest possible level.
The Founders knew what they were doing.
And President Trump, by opening the Overton window and making it possible for those on the Right to be heard and not canceled, is paying tribute to the Founders in the best possible way.

Audible’s The Unusual Suspects With Kenya Barris And Malcolm Gladwell Live With Brené Brown – 2025 SXSW Conference And Festival

Unspoken Truths On Trans Can Now Be Said

Ben Shapiro

Books

Cancel Culture

Malcolm Gladwell

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump’s administration enforces his executive order protecting women’s sports and spaces, several school districts and universities across the nation may soon come under fire for allowing males to compete as women or use female locker rooms. 
Now, a new <a href="https://americanparentscoalition.org/map/">tracking map</a> first obtained by The Daily Wire might offer the administration even more fodder for investigations. 
The interactive map provided by the American Parents Coalition documents instances across the United States where males have been granted access to female spaces, including sports teams, bathrooms, and locker rooms. The incidents tracked range from transgender-identifying males competing on women’s sports teams to young girls being forced to change in front of males at local gyms. 
At least 24 states have failed to maintain female-only spaces, the American Parents Coalition found. Incidents have not only taken place in deep blue states like California and New York, but also GOP-dominated states like Georgia, Missouri, Florida, and Texas. 
&#8220;Gender activists have attempted to normalize radical gender ideology at the expense of biological reality, fairness, and privacy. American parents have dealt with the fallout, seeing boys in their daughters’ sports, locker rooms, and private spaces at schools and also organizations like the YMCA,” Alleigh Marré told The Daily Wire. 
<div id="attachment_964829" style="width: 1761px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-964829" class="size-full wp-image-964829" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-25-at-10.00.42-AM.png" alt="" width="1751" height="1370" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-25-at-10.00.42-AM.png 1751w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-25-at-10.00.42-AM-300x235.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-25-at-10.00.42-AM-736x576.png 736w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-25-at-10.00.42-AM-768x601.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-25-at-10.00.42-AM-1536x1202.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1751px) 100vw, 1751px" />American Parents Coalition.</div>
The incidents cited by the American Parents Coalition range from college athletics to parents taking their children to the local YMCA. 
One of the incidents in March 2022 from <a href="https://americanparentscoalition.org/state/georgia/">Georgia</a> helped launch a conservative push to keep transgender-identifying males out of women’s sports. The incident in question involved male swimmer Lia Thomas tying for fifth place with Riley Gaines at the 200-meter NCAA Division 1 women’s swimming championships in Atlanta. Thomas was awarded a fifth-place trophy while Gaines was told she would receive one later. 
In another incident included on the interactive map, a parent <a href="https://fox4kc.com/news/nkc-police-investigating-after-report-of-indecent-exposure-at-ymca/">reported</a> that her 7-year-old daughter was exposed to a naked man while at their local YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri. The mother said that the man claimed to be a woman after being questioned about what he was doing in the women’s changing area. 
Other incidents took place in school districts across the country — from California’s Riverside County to Minnesota&#8217;s Hennepin County to Florida’s Broward County — as male athletes identifying as transgender competed against females. 
More incidents will be added to the map, and parents are encouraged to submit tips to the American Parents Coalition if their daughters have been denied privacy or athletic opportunities. 
“Parents&#8217; concerns about the safety and fairness of girls competing against biological males in sports, or forcing girls to shower, change or even share overnight cabins with biological males, are legitimate and must be taken seriously by policymakers,” Marré said. 
Marré added that she hoped that policymakers would use the map as a resource for where to direct their action. 
“Our goal with creating this map is to highlight that this issue is not isolated and is happening nationwide,” she said. “We also hope that this map can be used as a resource for concerned parents and policymakers as we work towards ensuring safety and fairness through the proper protection of girls&#8217; sports and spaces.”
In February, Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/keeping-men-out-of-womens-sports/">issued an executive order</a> stating that the United States would “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities,” saying that allowing men in women’s spaces results “in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”
“It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth,” that executive order stated. 
Trump’s order was the fulfillment of his campaign promise to get males out of women’s spaces — a promise that the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-trump-learned-to-embrace-the-transgender-culture-wars">president quickly gauged</a> the American people were very supportive of.  

Last week, Trump threatened to strip federal funding from California if the state continues to refuse to get on board with his administration&#8217;s transgender policies. That came after the Justice Department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-president-means-business-trump-admin-sues-california-over-transgender-athlete-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> California last month for continuing to allow transgender-identifying males to compete in female sports.

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