In 2021 and 2022, the legislature passed a law to protect girls and women in sports in the State of Louisiana.  The “Fairness in Women Sports” bill set up guardrails to make sure that biological males don’t line up to compete against females and thus pollute not just women’s sports, but perhaps our culture in general. To the consternation of the populace, Democrat Governor John Bel Edwards (JBE) vetoed the 2021 bill. The legislature tried to override the bill but fell just short.  The effort by the legislature to challenge the veto sent shock waves through the political landscape and created momentum that was used the next session to pass the bill again, with a strong super majority.

JBE then surrendered to the will of the people and the law went into effect.

Senator Beth Mizell’s Act 283 basically stipulates that biological males will NOT be allowed to take the playing field in competitive sports against females in Louisiana. With the insanity of a big male swimmer on the east coast clobbering female swimmers and stealing NCAA titles from women, most of the sane world saw the inherent unfairness of allowing junior varsity males to take over female sports. Louisiana said NO. It’s the law of the land. If you’re an average male athlete, you’ll have to settle with not winning races or pushing around girls.

Sorry, not sorry.

As all of this was unfolding, the Biden Administration has been threatening to interpret a federal protection intended to ensure equal treatment for women in a fashion that, in fact, will now HURT female athletes. Title IX, now 50 years old, was put in place to try and level the playing field in an age when women’s sports was barely tolerated, much less celebrated.

While the playing field is currently far from perfect, Title IX has made things much less bad for female athletes.  Many of us remember a day when girls hardly had any sports to compete in and less-than-acceptable facilities.  Title IX has a broad implication that protects everyone on campuses. There are federal safeguards in place to make sure women are treated equally in a school setting, not just in sports. It was a pretty good effort.

Now, the Biden Administration is trying to force schools around the country to interpret the protections in Title IX to include people who “identify” as something other than what is on their birth certificate or in their chromosomes. In short, team Biden is threatening to withhold federal money – lots of money – from schools who keep boys out of girls bathrooms or refuse to let male athletes compete against girls.

DC is spoiling for a fight.  They want to make an example out of someone or scare the citizens in the sovereign states to comply with Biden’s team’s twisted view of fairness.

Enter State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Cade Brumley.   Brumley is a conservative education leader and he’s making great strides to right Louisiana’s education ship which was thrown way off course by his predecessor and decades of neglect of things that are important.

While the Department of Education has no dog in the proverbial hunt of school sports, the schools where sports or bathroom activities take place will be impacted by a federal edict. Brumley felt it appropriate to pipe up and encourage his athletic counterpart, the leader of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA), to abide by Louisiana’s law.

Brumley’s letter (see attached) tells LHSAA Director Eddie Bonine that he thinks Louisiana ought to stick to its guns if the federal government tries to challenge the state’s right to conduct its own affairs.    As an employee of the State, Brumley is obliged to abide by the State’s laws. Sounds like he’s encouraging Bonine to follow suit in his capacity as the senior person at the LHSAA.

While nothing has happened, Brumley is inclined to take a stance. The threat of federal dollars being pulled sends chills down the spine of many. Apparently, not Brumley’s. We hope Bonine and other leaders in this state will stand tall for what the people of Louisiana want.

If DC wants to ruin sports for female athletes and allow biological males pretending to be females into bathrooms, let them do it somewhere else. Not in Louisiana.