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Gov. Sanders Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports in Arkansas

On Thursday Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order designed to protect female athletes in Arkansas.

The executive order opposes the Biden administration’s effort to redefine “sex” in federal Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The governor’s executive order says, “Title IX was passed to protect women, not harm them . . . The Biden administration is attempting to unilaterally rewrite federal law to advance its radical gender ideology against women and girls.”

The executive order notes that redefining “sex” in Title IX unfairly lets men compete in women’s sports; it lets them use girls’ showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms at school; and it will let men and compete for women’s scholarships.

The order concludes,

1. It is declared to be the policy of this state that sex is an immutable characteristic of the human body, rooted in biology and the created order. The government should celebrate, not erase, sex differences by providing proper protections for them. 

2. The educational institutions of Arkansas will continue to enforce state law guaranteeing the right of students to maintain their privacy. Students must not be forced to shower or undress with members of the opposite sex. 

3. Female students must not be denied equal athletic opportunities or forced to risk their safety by having biological males placed into female-designated sports leagues. 

4. Students and employees of Arkansas’ educational institutions may not be forced to use false pronouns. The right to refuse to speak a lie is guaranteed in the First Amendment. My administration will continue to protect this fundamental right. 

5. All accused individuals must be given robust, traditional due process rights if they are accused of harassment under the Biden Title IX Amendment. 

6. The Arkansas Department of Education is ordered to provide specific guidance on how to enforce the rights of Arkansans to equal opportunity, free speech, due process, and privacy under the U.S. Constitution, Title IX, and state law, despite the Biden administration’s unlawful administrative rule. At no point should Arkansas law be ignored. 

Family Council supports Governor Sanders’ executive order. As we have said time and again, women’s athletics is at risk of being erased in America.

In particular, female cyclists, swimmers, powerlifters, sprinters, and others have seen their sports radically changed by male athletes who compete as women.

Letting men compete in women’s sports reverses 50 years of advancements for women.

It hampers girls’ abilities to compete for athletic scholarships, and it hurts their professional opportunities as adults.

In some sports, it can even be dangerous.

Many states — including Arkansas — have enacted laws that preserve fairness in women’s sports.

In 2021 Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) preventing male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school. This good law protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.

We appreciate Gov. Sanders’ willingness to stand up for women and girls by opposing the Biden Administration’s radical effort to redefine “sex” in Title IX.

You Can Read The Governor’s Executive Order Here.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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