With just a little over a week before the presidential election, a lively audience excited to engage in conversations about the ever-increasing practice of men and boys competing in women’s and girls’ sports, gathered at the 3200 Arena in Philadelphia on Sunday morning. The program, titled “Stand with Women – equality isn’t a game” was hosted by the Independent Women’s Voice, a non-profit that fights for women and policy solutions.

The event included several big-name speakers, including Tulsi Gabbard, Riley Gaines, Jen Sey, Sage Steele, and Meghan McCain — all of whom are well-known for their advocacy of protecting women’s sports. The audience included roughly equal numbers of women and men and quite a few brought their children.

In addition to the headline speakers, six female athletes, who have recently suffered emotionally and physically due to competing against biological men, appeared on stage. Sia Liilii, the University of Nevada women’s volleyball captain, shared her fresh experience that made national headlines. Liilii, along with her teammates, made the gut wrenching decision to forfeit a game against a team with a biological male player, and the University of Nevada was not supportive of their position.

The hour-plus program in Philly highlighted the emotional and physical safety issues faced by female athletes as a result of the updated Title IX policies enacted under the Biden/Harris administration.

The speakers were unequivocal in their condemnation of the Biden/Harris executive order that resulted in unprecedented access for men into women’s spaces. Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer who was forced to compete against Lia Thomas, a biological male from the University of Pennsylvania, spoke passionately about why she is traveling across the country to address what is happening to female athletes.

Gaines experienced first hand the agony of defeat due to unfair rules for women. And while her collegiate years are behind her, she is committed to stopping these policies for future female athletes. “Enough is enough.”

Gaines believes that many of our current elected leaders continue to disrespect women with their votes and policies. “If our elected leaders won’t stand up for women, it’s time to elect new leaders.” While Gaines did not endorse any specific candidates, she was clear that the current administration has left women in a precarious situation.

Tulsi Gabbard, a veteran and former U.S. Representative for Hawaii, described Democrats — the party to which she previously belonged — as “cowards hiding in the corner in a moment of crisis.” She said the Democrats are hypocrites because they cannot even define what a woman is, “so how can they stand up to support them?”

Gabbard spoke multiple times about what might happen under a Harris presidency. “It will get radically worse if Harris wins. She will take this as a mandate to continue, and it will get exponentially worse.”

As a former congressional representative, Gabbard railed against Biden and Harris for signing an executive order to expand the definition of gender to include gender identity. “The Biden/Harris administration was worse than silent. Instead of protecting the [legislative] process, they backdoored the policy through executive order and then threatened public schools to take away their funding for free and reduced meals.”

Gabbard said, “they [the Democrats] claim it is inclusion, but it is actually exclusion.” She explained that democrats support including men in women’s sports and spaces but they don’t really care about women’s safety.

Gabbard was the only speaker to endorse a specific candidate — “this is sick. I am supporting Trump for this reason.” She said that “this is the moment to be the voice for truth,” and to make sure that it does not happen again.

One of the messages of the event was to empower people to stand up and speak out about what is happening in women’s sports. Liilii described men competing in women’s sports as “emotional warfare.” She encouraged the audience to “use your voice and be courageous.”

Signs like this were displayed throughout the venue.

Another headline speaker, Jen Sey, born in Philadelphia, was also adamant in her convictions about the current administration. “They are cowards.” Sey, a former executive at Levi Strauss resigned over her unabashed statements about extended school closures during Covid. She was canceled for speaking out even in 2023 when the consequences for lockdowns were abundantly apparent.

Unable to find a job without apologizing for her statements, Sey leveraged her skills and passions and created XX-XY Athletics to “influence the movement.” She has been speaking out about women’s rights to compete since 2008. Sey was a former olympic gymnast who now has four children. Her youngest is a “spicy girl athlete” and she doesn’t want her to have to compete against boys.

Sey wants to normalize people speaking out against this nonsense. “We need the 70-80 percent of people who agree with us to stand up.” She created this brand to “drive the conversation” so “governing bodies will be humiliated to do the right thing.” She explained that companies will only do the right thing when they are under pressure.

XX-XY Athletic’s mantra is “courage is contagious,” and she is hoping that her company and these events will inspire others to speak out about what is happening. Sey believes, “policy is downstream from culture,” and if people stand up about this issue, it will ultimately impact the situation. The company called out Nike for failing to stand up for women and girls.

Frank Murphy, a former NFL player, also stood up for women and encouraged other players to do the same. “This is a no brainer. Men don’t belong in women’s sports.” He said this is backwards and used the example that there are no women asking to play in the NFL.

At the conclusion of the program, I spoke to several audience members. Karley Vitale traveled from Lancaster with her five month old son to participate. She’s a big fan of Gaines and Gabbard and was excited for the opportunity to see them speak.

Jim Richards from Long Valley, New Jersey, has been committed to this issue for two years. He believes that fairness, dignity, and safety matter.

Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at barosica@broadandliberty.com.