Women athletes, coaches come together for rally in Charleston protesting new Title IX regulations and to protect women’s sports – WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Female athletes across the state are joining those around the country to continue asserting their stance– boys don’t belong in girls sports.

West Virginia girls athletes who have been forced to compete with a boy in sporting events met for a rally in Charleston Wednesday evening called Our Bodies, Our Sports “Take Back Title IX,’ which is part of a summer bus tour taking the initiative coast-to-coast in protest of the new Title IX and to protect women’s sports.

The athletes joined coaches and prominent women’s advocates, including former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for the event hosted by the Our Bodies, Our Sports Coalition.

An athlete for Lincoln County Middle School’s Track and Field Team, Sabrina Shriver who protested a boy competing during Harrison County Middle School’s girl’s championship on April 18 said the reason why she stands against the move.

“I feel that it’s not right that the opposite gender, a male gets to compete in the same category as women, it’s not fair,” Shriver said.

She came on MetroNews ‘Talkline’ Wednesday prior to the rally to talk about her experience with almost having to compete against the biological male who identifies as a transgender girl, Becky Pepper-Jackson

Shriver said she and many other of her fellow track members felt that Pepper-Jackson had a distinct advantage over them simply because they were biologically male.

“It has been proven that men and boys are stronger than women, always have been,” she said.

Shriver said her and her fellow athletes felt that something needed to be done about the issue, hence why they decided to stage the protest in April.

Women and girl coaches and athletes assert that their equal athletic opportunity, privacy, and safety are now under threat following President Joe Biden’s proposed new Title IX regulations which take affect August 1.

The new Title IX is projected to strip away protections for women, not only robbing them of equal opportunity on the court, field, or courses, but they say also it will cheat them out of their own trophies, roster spots, playing time, and resources– and gives all of those credits to men entering the realm of women’s sports.

Shriver said she hopes Wednesday’s rally would shed more light on the issue and what’s about to change following the new Title IX.

She said she and the rest of the advocates standing against the new Title IX have so far had a mix of support as well as backlash, but that’s not stopping them from protesting.

“People have had mixed feelings about it, we’ve had a lot of great people supporting us and cheering us on and then we’ve also had some people saying that we’re in the wrong and we shouldn’t be doing this, but you’re always going to have that no matter what you do,” Shriver said.

Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition formed in 2022 as a way to defend women’s sports and its integrity. It’s the nation’s first and only coalition of women’s advocacy organizations fighting for equal opportunity and fairness in women’s sports.