Following the oral arguments of West Virginia v. B.P.J and Little v. Hecox, the United States Supreme Court is now confronted with the question: are women’s sports legal, or will the lie prevail that Americans can ignore the reality of sex?
If the law cannot define “woman,” it cannot protect women at all.
Independent Women, which filed amicus briefs in both cases in support of states protecting women’s sports, amplified this message nationally, sounding the alarm with a clear call to action: Protect Her Legacy.
Fox News, The Ingraham Angle: Following the oral arguments, Payton McNabb, Independent Women ambassador, reacted to why the argument to have men compete in women’s sports was off base given her experience as an athlete:
“I would say to my brain injury and my concussion, to my permanent damage to my body, there’s a clear biological difference between a man and a woman. To me, you lose all credibility if you are a Supreme Court justice and you can’t answer the question of what a woman is. … You are a woman and you can’t even explain what a woman is, it is just so embarrassing and shameful. … The American people are tired of it. Ultimately, it’s up to the High Court.”
Fox News, Fox & Friends First: Payton McNabb joined Fox & Friends First to react to Justice Samuel Alito responding to an unclear definition of biological sex:
“The insanity of this cannot be overstated; it sounds like some made-up play, but this is real life. … How are you going to put a whole case based off of sex and not even have a definition? That just shows that this is an absolute clown show, and it’s sad because it’s the women who are the ones that are being punished for this.
“To me, this ruling should be a 9-0, no-questions-asked ruling because this is supposed to be the highest court. They should always make sure that facts trump feelings. … Women have worked so hard to even have these opportunities given to us, and the fact that we are now going backwards, we are regressing all of that hard work, is just a slap in the face to all women.”
Fox News, America Reports: May Mailman, director of Independent Women’s Law Center, joined Dana Perino on America Reports, warning that the Supreme Court’s inability to clearly define “woman” could jeopardize protections for women’s sports, prisons, shelters, and other sex-based spaces, creating widespread legal confusion.
“The chief justice was very concerned that if you don’t know what a woman is, if you have no definition, then not only can you not decide this case, but when it comes to prisons, when it comes to domestic abuse shelters, when it comes to all sorts of areas of life where women have protections, women have equal opportunity—housing, sororities, these sorts of things—that without a definition, all of those women’s spaces, all of those women’s opportunities and protections are dissolved.
“And so Ketanji Brown [Jackson]’s action, rather than helping out … the Left side, she actually added confusion and basically said, ‘Yes, there is no definition of a woman. Yes, all of those spaces are at risk.’”
OutKick: “Payton McNabb is a former high school volleyball player who suffered long-term injuries when a male player spiked a volleyball into her head during a 2022 match. Now an ambassador for Independent Women, she said the hearings were tough to watch.
“‘It’s painful to see Justices Sotomayor, [Brown] Jackson and Kagan—female leaders sitting on the highest Court in the land—suggest that women’s privacy, safety and equal opportunity is negotiable. … Allowing men into women’s sports and spaces abandons equality and fairness. I had hoped these female justices would admit biological realities and how important it is to protect women-only spaces. After years of fighting, I am ready for the Supreme Court to now stand with women and defend her legacy. If the Supreme Court can’t define ‘woman,’ then women have no rights left to defend.’”
ESPN, “Takeaways from transgender athlete cases at Supreme Court”: May Mailman and Payton McNabb spoke with ESPN outside of the Supreme Court:
“Payton McNabb, a former North Carolina high school volleyball player and an ambassador for Independent Women, said she was ‘very hopeful’ of a ruling from the court in their favor. ‘This is huge,’ McNabb told ESPN. ‘There’s been myself and so many women in this fight that have been fighting for this for years now … even when no one was listening to us.’”
The Hill, “Both sides on edge as Supreme Court appears poised to uphold transgender athlete bans”: “The Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, should easily be able to come to a 9-0 conclusion here, that biological reality does exist and that women deserve what we’ve been promised all along and that’s equal opportunity protection and a trust in a system that that stands on facts and truth,” said Payton McNabb, an ambassador for Independent Women …
“If the Supreme Court says that that’s not even allowed, like, women’s sports are basically illegal because they’re not just for women, then they don’t exist anymore. So, it’s really sad and it’s really scary that we’ve gotten here, but I think just enough people have been willing to stand up and fight, and that’s exactly what we needed to make it this far,” she added.
World News Group: Prior to heading to the steps of the Supreme Court, Payton McNabb joined The World and Everything in It:
“We’ve worked so hard to get these bills across, and these girls … feel so relieved that they’re protected in their home, and now the Court’s going to rule on if that’s even allowed, if what’s been promised all along, which is protection and equal opportunity and a trust in your system, is actually going to prevail.”
NPR, Here&Now: Ahead of the oral arguments, Beth Parlato, senior legal counsel for Independent Women’s Law Center, spoke with NPR’s Here&Now and called on the Supreme Court to uphold both laws in Idaho and West Virginia:
“If they don’t, basically what happens is it will erase opportunities for girls’ sports. That would actually be the end of girls’ sports if the Court does not uphold these laws.”
Fox News, Outnumbered: Kaylee McGhee White, Editor-in-Chief of Independent Women’s Features (IW Features), discussed how the case hinges on whether being female is a biological reality deserving distinct legal protections:
“They seem to be hiding behind the argument of hormonal levels in their arguments before the Supreme Court. But there was one sign from one of the activists who was out in front of the Supreme Court that I loved, and it said, ‘Female is not a hormonal level.’
And that really gets down to the heart of this case, which is: do we as women, with our innate and physical differences, do we have a right to specific and distinct legal protections or not? That’s really the question, and the reason why it’s so important that this is playing out in the athletic world—is because it’s impossible to deny the biological differences between the sexes in athletics.”
Articles and documentaries from Independent Women’s Features, the grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm of Independent Women, include “Kill Shot: How Payton McNabb Turned Tragedy into Triumph” and “‘It Tore Us Apart’: After Her Sorority Initiated a Male, KKG Member Says Sisterhood Will Never Be the Same.”
View more IW Features stories on protecting women’s spaces here.
Fox Business, The Bottom Line: Payton McNabb joined The Bottom Line, where she discussed how the Supreme Court must reaffirm basic biological reality to protect women and girls, warning that failure to define “woman” threatens sex-based spaces and opportunities far beyond sports.
“If you’re a Supreme Court justice, you should be able to understand what basic biology is, so I’m excited to see the outcome because this means everything to the next generation, which is exactly who we’re fighting for.
“… And the fact that we’re worried about the outcome is the real problem here. So this is incredibly important, such a huge step in the right direction for the next generation who should never, ever have to go through what we went through. …
“It has gone on for way too long. It’s affecting everything, not even just the sports, but the locker rooms, the sororities, the prisons, and it seeps down … and it’s just a spiral, which is what we’ve tried to warn in the beginning, in the first place. …
“The president acted on it, 27 states have acted on it, and now it’s up to the high court to have the final say. What is a woman?”
Fox News, “Washington Post urges Supreme Court to ‘save women’s sports’ ahead of major trans athlete case”:
“Director of Independent Women’s Law Center, May Mailman, expressed surprise at The Washington Post’s stance, claiming it would have been ‘unthinkable’ until recently. However, she added that the Post’s stance is largely catching up with ‘the side of reality.’
“‘I don’t actually think this article reflects a shift in public opinion—the public was always on the side of reality. It reflects the defeat of the elites. The elites, like university professors and liberal lawyers, forced this lie down our throats, they’ve been called out for it, and now they are pretending like they’re discovering reality anew.’”
Read more by Independent Women:
- Washington Examiner: “Breaking barriers should not mean breaking women’s sports,” by Linnea Saltz, Independent Women ambassador
- Townhall: “Dignity for Thee—Not for Me,” by Amie Ichikawa, Independent Women ambassador
- OutKick: “A Supreme Court Test For Women’s Sports,” by Payton McNabb, Independent Women ambassador
- Washington Examiner: “Women’s sports, sex, and the Supreme Court,” by Beth Parlato, senior legal counsel at Independent Women’s Law Center
- Center Square: “Detransitioners know the truth—men don’t belong in women’s spaces,” by Prisha Mosley, Independent Women ambassador
- National Review: “The Supreme Court Must Find the Courage to Defend the Truth on Women’s Sports,” by Payton McNabb, Independent Women ambassador