On September 23, 2026, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley led a hearing titled “Standing Up for Women in Sports: Ensuring Opportunity, Fairness and Safety for Female Athletes.” The session centered on the argument that the inclusion of biological males in women’s sports programs directly undermines the opportunities, scholarships, and athletic achievements of female competitors.
TESTIMONIES
Drawing on her experience as the mother of a swimmer who competed against Lia Thomas, Kim Jones argued that female athletes need fair competition, privacy in locker rooms, and clear rules that sports organizations will enforce.
Jones discusses the role of sex in athletic performance, the concerns female athletes have raised, and why she believes current policies leave girls and women without meaningful protection. Watch her testimony and hear her call for sports leaders to uphold the female category.
Former professional soccer player Carly Smolak ttold the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee how girls’ sports helped take her from youth soccer in Oregon to a scholarship at Stanford and a professional career. She asks whether young female athletes today can count on those same opportunities.
Smolak also recounts her experience in Australian Rules Football and raises concerns about fairness and safety on women’s teams. She urges sports leaders to protect the female category at every level, from youth leagues to professional competition.
Sports attorney William Bock III testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on September 23, 2026, calling for stronger protections for women and girls in sports.
A former general counsel for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and former member of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, Bock argues that fair competition requires clearly defined female athletic categories, sex verification, and accountability for sports organizations that fail to enforce their rules. He examines policies in professional, Olympic, amateur, and college sports and urges Congress to act.
