What happened to keeping men and women’s sports categories separate? Will Biden’s rewrite of Title IX cause drastic changes for athletes this upcoming season? Is all hope lost for women’s rights?

Growing up in a swimming family, I was quickly put on a summer swim team at the age of four and have been surrounded by swimmers ever since. Those swimmers were always male and female, divided into their categories. This was the reality for my whole swimming career, until I was in my freshman year, swimming for a Division III college team.

The viral incident involving Lia Thomas (formerly known as William Thomas) and Riley Gaines made me realize that there are men who wish to swim in women’s categories. Thomas was a University of Pennsylvania men’s team swimmer until his senior year when he decided — and was permitted — to compete on the women’s swim team. Thomas’s performance was average on the men’s team. He ranked 554th in the 200m freestyle, 65th in the 500m freestyle, and 32nd in the 1650m freestyle. After he started competing against biological women, he was ranked fifth, first, and eighth in all of those same events

Thomas became a household name when he swam at the 2022 NCAA women’s championship, tying for fifth place — down to the millisecond — with the University of Kentucky’s Riley Gaines. On the podium, the NCAA decided to give the trophy to Lia for “photo-op purposes,” telling Riley that she would get her trophy in the mail.

As if losing the trophy weren’t traumatic enough, Thomas also exposed himself to several unprepared women in the girls’ locker room. Many of those swimmers testified later to being shocked, uncomfortable, and feeling deeply betrayed by the NCAA officials who never warned them about this invasion of their privacy. The severity of this incident reverberated across women’s sports as more girls were faced with the prospect of undressing in front of biological men.

This incident was my first glance into the nature of what many men and women are following today. That nature is who these men and women identify with and as. As Christians, our identity is in Christ alone. The Apostle Paul puts it clearly: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians. 2:20). Secondly, God made us male and female, which he explains in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” God created male and female, not male who feels like a woman or “was born in a different body” as some would say. Lia Thomas made me aware that there are men who are attempting to “look like women” to compete in the women’s category. Although that event made me aware of this issue, I never would have thought that it would be a reality of mine to face someday.

My personal experience with radical gender ideology was in the fall of the 2023 season, when my college was preparing to compete against every Division III Virginia swim team in the ODAC conference. A few days before the meet, I was made aware that a male swimmer from Roanoke College had come back this season, switched teams, and now planned on dominating the competition on the women’s team.

Fear, shock, and confusion filled my thoughts as I had to choose between not swimming against this man, or swimming and even changing (in the privacy of my locker room) with a man who “believed that he was a woman.” The Apostle Paul wrote, “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure” (1 Timothy 5:22). While wrestling with the choice of whether or not to swim against this male who thought he was a female, I kept coming back to this verse. God calls us not to indulge in the sins of others, so I decided I would not compete against this man who wanted to swim against all the women in my conference.

By God’s grace, the man on Roanoke College’s swim team dropped out just a few days before every team in the ODAC conference, including mine, would have to compete against him.

Although I have not had to compete against a biological male, I am fearful for the future for women who will have to, especially now that the Biden-Harris administration’s radical rewrite of Title IX went into effect this week.

The Title IX rewrite claims to protect individuals who identify as LGBTQ+, emphasizing the fact that Title IX has incorporated new regulations, which elevates the “rights” of trans-identifying students over biological women’s concerns in everything from restroom and locker room access, preferred pronouns usage, sexual harassment cases, dorm room assignments, and any school setting that would otherwise separate the sexes. In other words, students can say they identify as one gender and will immediately gain access to the private spaces of the opposite sex. So far, Biden’s dangerous Title IX policy has been blocked by the courts or state officials in as many as 45 states. Our prayer is that Title IX gets blocked in all 50.

Most experts believe that if this policy sticks, it opens the door for athletes who identify as transgender to join women’s sports teams. The Biden-Harris administration’s priorities lie in prioritizing the LGBTQ+ community, rather than women who want to feel safe in the privacy of their locker room.

God has made both male and female in his image, and God purposefully made them both very different. Men are physically stronger, which does not mean that women aren’t strong. Trust me, being around swimmers for many years, I have seen some mentally and physically strong women. The strength of women is just simply… different.

A great way to demonstrate the strength that God has given to women is to stand up for yourself and the women around you. Don’t put up with men who pretend they are female just by putting on a woman’s swimsuit or taking hormones. We as women should not stay quiet as the rewrite of Title IX makes its debut. We must stand up strong and fight against this dangerous policy.

Melia Ross served as a summer intern at Family Research Council.