(LifeSiteNews) — A bus tour featuring former All-American swimmer turned women’s sports activist Riley Gaines is scheduled to stop in more than a dozen U.S. cities this summer.
Our Bodies, Our Sports kicked off the “Take Back Title IX” 2024 Bus Tour last month on May 29 with its first stop in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which is the hometown of Joe Biden.
Title IX was approved by Congress in the 1970s and signed into law by U.S. President Gerald Ford. The measure states that “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.”
In 2021, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) issued a guidance to educators that said Title IX will also cover “sexual orientation and gender identity” in public schools. In April, the DOE unilaterally expanded Title IX in such a way that it could allow trans males to compete in female sports.
The move has prompted legal challenges from conservatives.
In a press release issued by the Independent Women’s Forum, Gaines said, “Sex does not equal gender identity, but according to the Biden administration’s illegal and discriminatory new Omnibus Title IX rule, it is perfectly acceptable to strip away the sole purpose of Title IX – to provide equal opportunity for women under the law.”
Our Bodies, Our Sports is a coalition of women’s groups formed two years ago. Its purpose is to “defend women’s sports and the integrity of the female sporting category.” Members include the Independent Women’s Forum, Women’s Sports Policy Working Group, and the International Consortium on Female Sports, among many others.
Former Trump Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos held a press conference for the tour in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday. She said the DOE’s new regulations will “put women in a position to be discriminated against in favor of biological men.”
Paula Scanlan, a former teammate of gender-confused swimmer William “Lia” Thomas, also appeared at the rally.
Other prominent figures scheduled to speak at stops on the tour include tennis great Martina Navratilova and former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Both have previously sounded the alarm about the unfairness of men competing against women.
The tour will arrive in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, June 23, the 52nd anniversary of Title IX. Its final event will take place in Nashville, Tennessee on June 28.
The following states are included in the tour: Oklahoma, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, Washington D.C., Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin, and Maryland. Click here for the full schedule.