ICONS NCAA Lawsuit Press Conference
"Take on the NCAA"
March 24, 2024
On Friday, March 22, I was thrilled to join several female athlete plaintiffs and their lawyer at a press conference organized by the group Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) announcing the filing of a lawsuit against the NCAA. ICONS is spearheading and funding the lawsuit, which alleges that the NCAA’s policies of allowing men and boys to compete in sports intended for women and girls and to use locker rooms intended for women and girls violate Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
This post is being sent to all subscribers to this Substack. It is free and shareable. If you would like access to content that delves deeper into the movement to protect the sex-based rights of women and girls and to stop the abolition of sex, please consider a paid subscription.
You can watch the 25-minute press conference here:
The suit centers on the participation of Lia (Will) Thomas in the 2022 NCAA Division I national swimming championships, where he won the women’s 500-yard freestyle event. During that event, UK women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen called out that he’s a man and when asked if she’s a biologist, responded, “I’m not a vet, but I know what a dog is.”
That happened at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, so the suit has been filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, which has jurisdiction.
The complaint is available here.
Helpfully, that district court falls with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already ruled, in a case called Adams v. School Board of St. Johns County, that the word sex means actual sex (not “gender identity”) for the purposes of Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.1
In a fun twist, the press conference was outside the University of Georgia, which was hosting this year’s NCAA Division 1 swimming championships.
This is what I said during the press conference:
Good afternoon. My name is Kara Dansky and I’m the president of the US chapter of Women’s Declaration International.
In the fight to protect the sex-based rights of women and girls, people often ask, “Where are the feminists?!” Well I’m here today to tell you that the feminists are standing strong in support of female-only sports and spaces and in support of the female athlete plaintiffs in this lawsuit.
Speaking solely for myself, I am a lifelong Democrat who is ideologically left of the Democratic party. From a leftist feminist perspective, so-called “gender identity” is a regressive, sexist, homophobic concept that has no business being enshrined in law or policy. Democratic Party leadership must change course on this topic and it must do so immediately.
I am a daughter of the second-wave movement for women’s liberation, which hailed from the political left. Those feminists didn’t fight to secure women’s sex-based rights, including Title IX, only to have them all thrown under the bus at the altar of the regressive concept of “gender identity.” So, for anyone tempted to ask, “Where are the feminists,” I’m here today to say that we’re right here, standing alongside these amazing female athletes to say no to men in women’s sports and spaces.
Women’s Declaration International works to advance women’s sex-based rights all over the world. We do so by promoting the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights, which challenges the discrimination and oppression we experience from the replacement of the category of sex with that of so-called “gender identity” in law and policy. Our work is grounded in leftist radical feminist principles. We are leftists. We are feminists. We are women of every race, religion, and background. We are lesbians, bisexual, and straight women. We fight for women and girls as a sex class and invite like-minded women (and the men who care about them) to join us in this stand against discrimination.
We reaffirm women’s rights to the same opportunities as men to participate actively in sports and education. That includes the right to female-only sports, including every single athletic event or competition sponsored by the NCAA.
We reaffirm the need for the elimination of violence against women and girls. This includes the right of women and girls to have female-only spaces, including locker rooms. Until recently, everyone in society seemed to understand that men who invaded women’s intimate spaces were rightly shamed and charged with criminal offenses. That understanding seems to have gone out the window today with the embrace of “gender identity,” including in NCAA policy. Today, if a man like Lia Thomas says that he “is transgender” or that he has a “gender identity” that is different from his sex, our laws, policies, and institutions simply hold the doors wide open for him to access places where women and girls are nude or otherwise in a state of vulnerability. It is shameful that institutions like the NCAA permit and even encourage this.
Women’s Declaration International is a nonpartisan organization that works with groups across the political spectrum. We do not align with the current stance of the Democratic Party leadership when they advocate for men to be in women’s sports, spaces and language. We oppose the erasure of women’s sex-based protections and recognition in law. Respect for women must prevail in this case and in the NCAA. Thank you.
Well done to all the female athlete plaintiffs and to ICONS. I’m proud to stand with you in the fight.
Adams was about single-sex bathrooms, not single-sex sports, but one judge in the case opined that the decision should also apply to sports.
I watched this on you tube, It was heartbreaking. To have our identity, primal instinct, reality, lived experienced, right to consent, safety and bodily autonomy denied, in the name of not being offensive to the opposite sex is literally DADAISM. This is insanity, cruel and unfair. HOW IS THIS NOT SEXUAL HARASSMENT? A man cannot be naked in front of women in women's locker room but a fully intact, 6'4 male bodied, "woman" can? This makes no sense. This is psychological abuse. And then we can't have an opinion about it. We aren't allowed to "feel" yet required to validate the feelings of the patriarchy? The lobbyists and politicians who passed these laws, tanking women's rights need to be put in prison. They are a danger to society. Equality is validating the feelings of the patriarchy and women are ordered to obey and be silent. THIS IS PROGRESS?!!! Hell to the No!
That was a great press conference! And thank you, Kara, for your remarks, including a shout-out to those of us of your Mom’s generation: “I am a daughter of the second-wave movement for women’s liberation, which hailed from the political left. Those feminists didn’t fight to secure women’s sex-based rights, including Title IX, only to have them all thrown under the bus at the altar of the regressive concept of “gender identity.” Thank you so much for carrying the torch, and for all you do.
Kara, thank you also for flagging Nadler’s opening remarks in a congressional hearing 3/21. I would never have seen this, had you not flagged it. He is my Congressman, and I have written to him about what he said.