PAYTON MCNABB: Girls deserve fair competition, and the Supreme Court just agreed

After years of what seems like walking through hell and back, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Idaho and West Virginia in two critical cases that defend laws protecting women’s sports and spaces.

Today, I feel something that I haven’t felt in a long time when it comes to the protection of women’s sports and spaces: relief.

Personally, I have witnessed male athletes dressed in makeup and sports bras allowed to hold trophies after humiliating the hardworking female athletes for whom they were intended. I watched my athletic career disappear before my eyes due to a life-altering injury that was 100% preventable. I watched as roster spots and championships got ripped out from underneath more-than-deserving women. I watched girls who trained their entire lives lose opportunities to boys.

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As a former athlete, I know what it means to pour your heart into the sport you love. Every athlete does. We are well acquainted with the early mornings, exhausting practices, injuries, sacrifices, and countless hours that nobody sees. We know what it feels like to chase a goal for years with little to no guarantee of success. That’s why this issue hits so close to home for nearly 70% of Americans.

When I was in high school, I suffered a traumatic brain injury in a volleyball match due to a male playing on the girls’ team. His spike was harder, faster, stronger than any girl I have ever been across the net from. Years later, I have not recovered from this injury, and it will genuinely affect me for the rest of my life.

For most athletes, we already have the pressure of making the team. We stress about form, speed, agility, and technique before tryouts. We live with the potential that there may be another girl who’s better than us, so we won’t make the cut. This alone makes athletics enough of a strain, physically and mentally — yet for thousands of us, it’s a strain we are glad to bear.

Then, policies that allow males to take female spots on the team throw yet another wrench into the plan. It not only lessens the chance for girls and women to chase their dreams, but it cheapens the spot in the first place.

What makes today so meaningful is not simply the legal outcome. It is the recognition that women and girls should not have to apologize for wanting a category that exists specifically for us.

Women’s sports were not created because women needed a participation trophy—they were created because female athletes deserve to compete on the highest level of their sport and win on fair grounds. That principle should have never become controversial.

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It somehow has.

For years, the political establishment and woke ideology abandoned the very women that they claimed to protect. Organizations that once championed women suddenly seemed afraid to acknowledge biological reality, and began giving awards and brand deals to men pretending to be women, at the expense of well-deserving female athletes.

Brave women, coaches, parents, and athletes began speaking up and speaking the truth, even when it was unpopular. That began the change evident in today’s Supreme Court opinion. Change rarely happens when the powerful speak out — it’s when the high-school athletes and college sports coaches of this country decide to step up and say what everyone is thinking. That’s when change happens.

Today’s decision is a reminder that truth does not disappear simply because someone believes a delusion. Reality does not change because people are uncomfortable discussing hard topics.

Compassion and inclusion are traits that are ultimately good, but when people twist them to fit a comfortable lie, it can become incredibly messy. Genuine empathy and diversity cannot require women to lose the protections and categories that generations before us fought to create.

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I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many people who have spoken out with me, first and foremost my parents, who stood by my side through my recovery and when I was at my darkest point. I feel overwhelmingly blessed by my community and fellow advocates who never backed down in the face of adversity. In fact, I believe it’s a full circle moment. In athletics, you never back down from the daunting competitor — you fight, you hustle, and you work harder than ever before to win. And today, we finally did.

As I think about the next generation of girls, I feel hopeful. I think about the young athlete waking up before school to train. I think about the girl dreaming about a

scholarship, a championship, or simply the chance to compete on a team with other girls who share her passion. She deserves the protections and opportunities that the Supreme Court has now upheld.

Women’s sports are always worth protecting.