Recently, former University of Kentucky swimmer Katilynn Wheeler celebrated the latest ban from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which now prohibits transgender athletes from competing against women in sports that the organization sponsors.
Appearing on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends First” this week, the former collegiate swimmer highlighted the importance of the move for women’s sports.”It’s huge,” Wheeler said, noting that “all eyes are on the NCAA right now,” suggesting they could be compelled to make a similar ruling. “The NAIA took the bold first move here, and that’s what real leadership looks like,” she added.
Wheeler applauded the NAIA for their well-researched decision while calling out the NCAA after it admitted it had not looked into the topic sufficiently. She further noted that understanding basic science should not be that difficult.
“They did their research. They made the right call. Unlike the NCAA who has previously admitted that they haven’t done enough research on the subject, which frankly, I don’t think opening a biology textbook is really that hard,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler also spoke highly of NAIA president and CEO Jim Carr for the organization’s brave defense of female athletics. “President Carr and the NAIA made the right call and I think that many would agree that it’s time the NCAA followed suit and did the same with its own policies,” she stated.
The former swimmer accused the NCAA of ignoring the pressing issue, which has become one of the most fiercely debated topics in the culture war. However, Wheeler claimed that the NCAA would eventually have to address the issue and uphold Title IX.
“As much as the NCAA would like to turn their heads on this issue, because that’s what they’ve done thus far, they’re going to be forced to face this, and they will be forced to uphold Title IX, because really, people are fed up with the nonsense,” she said.
Wheeler asserted that the issue of defending women’s sports should be non-partisan, where everyone should understand the innate biological differences between males and females. “It doesn’t matter, whether you’re Republican or Democrat, the overwhelming majority of people understand that there are differences between men and women, especially when it comes to sports,” she said.
Despite all of the controversy surrounding transgender athletes in recent years, Wheeler expressed the implications of the NAIA policy change, hoping that it would inspire further action across the world of sports. “But I’m really encouraged by the NAIA’s new policy, and I’m even that much more hopeful that many others are going to do the same. It only takes one before or more starts to follow the right path,” she said.
The American Tribune reported on the NAIA ruling that now blocks biological males from competing against women in the sports that the governing body has authority over. “We know there are a lot of different opinions out there,” Carr said about the new policy. “For us, we believed our first responsibility was to create fairness and competition in the NAIA. … We also think it aligns with the reasons Title IX was created. You’re allowed to have separate but equal opportunities for women to compete.”
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