McNabb: Trump administration’s moves on Title IX show care, compassion

By Alan Wooten
The Center Square

More work is to be done, including getting a win at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still, two years into the second term of Republican President Donald Trump, reclaiming Title IX in the spirit as President Richard Nixon signed it 54 years ago to the day on Tuesday remains a challenge accepted by supporters across the nation. North Carolinian Payton McNabb says the administration has backed up their words.

“I think there’s still a lot to be done, and I think that the way that they’ve been moving through this, they obviously care,” McNabb told host Greg Bishop on Tuesday’s edition of The States by The Center Square. “Since Day 1, I mean, they campaigned on it. And then seriously actually followed through, which was encouraging to see.

“I think we’re moving in a great speed, and of course, there’s still a lot to be done. I think that they’re willing to step up and do that.”

On Sept. 1, 2022, at Highlands High School, the trajectory of McNabb’s life forever changed. The state public school athletic association, then led by Commissioner Que Tucker, permitted boys to petition to play in girls sports. One of them spiked a volleyball into the head of McNabb, ending the three-sport career of the Hiwassee Dam High athlete.

Today, she still battles medical issues. Her struggles, she says, are “because of one guy” and adults who were enablers.

Rather than pity or cowardice, or worse still silence, McNabb has risen to successes that – particularly in the summer of ’22 – could never have been imagined. She’s been across the country to state legislatures pushing for protection of women’s spaces and sports, she’s testified in Congress, twice been a guest of Trump for landmark occasions, and she’s grown genuine friendships with other advocates like former college swimmers Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan.

Her story is tragic, her response resilient.

And it’s in a movement with powerhouse names like author J.K. Rowling, tennis legend Martina Navratilova, and Jen Sey, the former front office titan at Levi’s who eventually left and began her own athletic apparel company XX-XY Athletics. The January day at the U.S. Supreme Court included emotional conversations from TV personality Sage Steele, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Michigan Rep. Lisa McClain.

“I think with the Department of Education under the Trump administration – they have done an incredible job at cracking down on these different stories and giving them a platform and standing up for girls who really felt helpless and like they were crying out for help the last few years and no one was there,” McNabb said on The States.

She said the Biden administration was “actively working against women and we were regressing all this progress that we’ve made throughout the years by opening it up to everybody and taking away everything that women have fought for and fought to have. It was really disheartening to see the last administration open it up like that and kind of make it seem like they were fighting against us, because that’s exactly what it was. I felt like I wasn’t protected at all. And you know, there are countless women who felt the same way I did.”

The Supreme Court in January heard the cases known as Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., respectively.

Lindsay Hecox, now 24, didn’t make the women’s track and cross country teams at Boise State. Idaho law, a first of its kind in 2020, says athletes from elementary school through college are to participate on respective male or female teams based on “original birth certificate issued at the time of birth.”

B.P.J., 15-year-old high school student, has identified as female since third grade, using medicine to resist male puberty. West Virginia law, enacted in 2021, is like Idaho in using birth certificate at time of birth.

At stake in the decision of the justices is legal precedent for civil rights, gender identity and school operations.

In a press conference after the arguments, John Bursch of the Alliance for Defending Freedom said, “It means a lot that the other side has to tell the court not to define sex in order to win this case.”

The Supreme Court has identified Thursday as an opinion day.

Title IX says, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

The price tag is an estimated $111 billion in gross program costs being paid by the taxpayer – at the federal level. State and local money adds to the total, and varies.

The Education Department in the Biden administration attempted to change those 37 words with 1,561 pages of rewrite. Trump said no on his first day.

McNabb is hopeful for victory at the highest court, even if perplexed the cases have wound up there.

“It’s what gave me the opportunities that I had, and let me be able to follow my dreams,” McNabb told Bishop, explaining the personal impact of Title IX. “But it isn’t just about celebrating female athletes, it’s about protecting the opportunities that make those achievements possible because the next generation deserves a fair shot that the last five decades of women got to have.

“They deserve a fair shot, and that’s exactly what Title IX was created to protect. So I love Women’s Sports Week. I think that the little girls lacing up their cleats, stepping onto the court, diving into the pool with big dreams – those dreams matter. And the opportunities created by Title IX changed countless lives, and we have a responsibility to protect them, so that every girl can compete fairly, safely, and with confidence.”