Fifty years after Title IX, we must protect women's sports

Former Education Secretary Betsy Devos explains her opposition to the 'radical' proposed changes that the Biden administration claims will protect transgender students from discrimination.

Fifty years ago today, President Richard Nixon signed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 into law. Title IX mandated parity for men and women at educational institutions that received funding from the federal government. Sadly, Democrats are turning the original intent of Title IX on its head and are advocating for biological males to compete against biological females – effectively destroying women’s sports.

The purpose of Title IX was to update the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, at the time, did not ban discrimination against women at educational institutions. A byproduct of the Education Amendments of 1972, which sought to give women an equal playing field in education, led to women’s sports teams at the K-12 and collegiate levels receiving the same funding as men’s sports teams.

Thanks to this, the number of female athletes has grown exponentially.

According to the National Library of Medicine, from 1973 to 2018, the percentage of high school sports played by girls increased from 24.2 percent to 42.9 percent. The authors note, "Girls’ participation in high school sports continues to grow not only in numbers but in the types of sports played."

CHRISTY MITCHELL: TITLE IX 50TH ANNIVERSARY – IN BATTLE OVER TRANSGENDER ATHLETES IN SPORTS, TEEN GIRLS PAY BIGGEST PRICE

During the 1971-1972 school year, less than 300,000 girls participated in their high schools’ athletic programs while there were over 3.5 million boys participating during the same time period. Fast-forward to the 2018-2019 school year, and there are more than