Tag: sports

Female Swimmer Beaten By Male Faces Lifetime Competition Ban For Talking About It

Angie Griffin swims like a woman, a skill that earned her the title of a top ten U.S. Masters Swimming competitor in her age group for more than a decade.

The 46-year-old’s dedication to the sport means Griffin does, as she humbly told The Federalist in a phone interview, “all right” at USMS competitions. At first glance, Griffin’s second-place performance last April in her USMS age division’s national championship breaststroke event seemed to fit that bill.

It wasn’t until after the meet that Griffin realized she was only runner-up because a man took first place.

One year later, instead of focusing on winning at this year’s USMS Spring Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina, Griffin is gearing up to argue against a lifetime ban from the organization that made her fall back in love with the water for saying men in women’s sports is unfair.”

“I swim for fun,” the Bay Stater said. “I don’t participate in the committees and the making of these policies and the rules. I didn’t know they had little bylaws that they could say, ‘Hey, you’re speaking your mind and using facts for your opinion. So we’re gonna silence you for having a different opinion than us.’”

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Justice Department Sues Minnesota for Allowing Boys in Girls’ Sports and Intimate Spaces

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) on Monday, alleging sex-based discrimination by allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports and use girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms. 

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is a well-known advocate for these policies, and he infamously signed a 2023 law, directing all public schools to provide free menstrual products to all menstruating students, including trans students, in grades 4 to 12.

The 45-page lawsuit was filed in Minnesota federal court, arguing that the “unfair, intentionally discriminatory practice violates the very core of Title IX of the Education Amendments.”

“Title IX’s core purpose is to ensure that both boys and girls have equal educational opportunities. This includes protecting girls’ equal educational athletic opportunities by recognizing that boys have an inherent biological advantage in sports,” the filing reads, noting male and female athletes have “undeniable physiological differences.”

“But Minnesota casts this aside in favor of so-called “gender identity,” a choice that elevates ideology over biology, fairness, and safety. In open defiance of Title IX’s antidiscrimination protections, Minnesota’s policies and practices create unfair competition, deny girls equal educational opportunities, and expose girls to a hostile educational environment with heightened risks of physical injury and psychological harm.”

It further points to the over $3 billion in federal funding that the Minnesota Department of Education receives annually from the US Department of Education (USDOE), arguing that Minnesota has a duty to comply with USDOE’s regulations implementing Title IX.

The MDE also receives approximately $42.6 million annually from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is required to comply with HHS’s regulations implementing Title IX.

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Florida AG Warns NFL Against Race-Based Diversity Hiring

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier made it clear that he plans to challenge one of the most controversial practices in sports: an NFL rule that requires minority candidates to be interviewed for key coaching and front office decisions.

In a letter and an accompanying video released Wednesday, Uthmeier said he plans to challenge the so-called “Rooney Rule” used by the league, arguing it violates state law.

According to WPEC-TV in West Palm Beach, Uthmeier’s letter warned that the rule cannot be enforced on the three NFL teams based in Florida — the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers — saying all three must “interview, hire, and train based on merit,” as should the NFL.

If the teams are subject to the rule “or any variation or extension thereof,” he warned, it “may result in a civil rights enforcement action.”

He also said that the NFL’s Coach & Front Office Accelerator Program and Mackie Development Program would “limit, segregate, and classify” candidates in a manner inconsistent with Florida law.

“My office is sending a letter to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, regarding the league’s hiring practices — specifically, the use of the so-called ‘Rooney Rule,’ which requires NFL teams to interview candidates based on race,” he said in the social media video.

“The NFL’s use of the Rooney Rule violates Florida law by requiring race-based considerations in hiring. Florida law is clear: Hiring decisions cannot be based on race, and the Rooney Rule mandates race-based interviews and incentivizes race-based decisions.”

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Alert: Olympic Committee Steps up to Protect Women, Bans Trans Athletes from Female Events

No man will grab an Olympic medal from a woman under a new policy unveiled Thursday by the International Olympic Committee.

Under the new policy, genetic testing will be required to ensure only women compete in women’s categories, according to The New York Times.

The decision will take effect with the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition,” IOC president Kristy Coventry, a former gold medal Olympian, said in a statement posted on the IOC website.

“The policy that we have announced is based on science and has been led by medical experts. At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” she said.

“So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe,” she said.

“Every athlete must be treated with dignity and respect, and athletes will need to be screened only once in their lifetime. There must be clear education around the process and counselling available, alongside expert medical advice,” she said.

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FA Refuses to Scrap “Racist” Target for a Third of England’s Coaches to Be Non-White

The Football Association has refused to scrap a “racist” target for almost a third of England’s men’s coaches to be non-white after Suella Braverman branded it “utter woke nonsense”. The Telegraph has more.

Braverman, the former home secretary, who is Reform UK’s Equalities Spokesperson, wrote to Mark Bullingham, the FA Chief Executive, on Tuesday demanding the abolition of a policy she said “divides rather than unites”.

The FA’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy sets a target for 30% of the England men’s coaching staff to be from ethnically diverse backgrounds by 2028.

Posting her letter to Bullingham on X, Braverman said: “The @FA Football Association wants to mandate that one in four football coaches come from a Black, Asian or other minority background.

“As the saying in football goes, this is utter woke nonsense. The game’s gone. Fans don’t care what the coach looks like. They just want the best person for the job, based on merit alone. That’s what gets results. Not tokenism.

“I’ve written to the FA urging a rethink. I’m happy to help them draw up a fairer policy. Let’s kick racism out of football, including anti-white racism.”

Braverman, who in January defected to Reform from the Conservative Party, also wrote in her letter that the policy was “fundamentally flawed, inherently racist and bad for the game”.

She added: “The best coaches should get the job, not because of their skin colour, but because they are the best person for the job.”

The phrase “utter woke nonsense” has become a popular meme among football fans.

An FA spokesperson said in response: “Football has the unique ability to break down barriers and bring communities together. Through our EDI strategy, we aim to ensure the game reflects the full diversity of our nation.

“This means opening up pathways and creating opportunities for people from all backgrounds – including those from historically under-represented groups. While we will always take a meritocratic approach by appointing the best people for roles, we also recognise the importance of having a broader range of participants across the sport.

“We are proud that our strategy is supporting the growth of football among men, women, boys and girls from all communities.”

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FC Barcelona Fined for Privacy Violations Over Biometric Data Collection

FC Barcelona got fined €500,000 ($579,219) for scanning the faces and recording the voices of over 100,000 members without doing the legal homework first.

Spain’s data protection authority, the AEPD, found the club had deployed biometric identity verification during a membership census update and processed all of it without a valid Data Protection Impact Assessment.

Members renewing their details remotely were required to either submit a facial scan through their device camera or record their voice. Both systems were live, both were processing biometric data at scale, and the documentation Barcelona produced to justify any of it didn’t meet the bar GDPR sets for high-risk processing.

Article 35 of the GDPR requires organizations to conduct a DPIA before deploying any system likely to create a high risk for individuals. Biometric data used for identification qualifies automatically.

Processing that touches more than 100,000 people, including minors, qualifies. Using new technologies qualifies. Barcelona’s system hit all three. The AEPD concluded the club’s documentation was missing the essential components of a genuine assessment: no real necessity and proportionality analysis, no adequate evaluation of what the processing actually risks for the people whose faces and voices it captured.

The AEPD’s decision in case PS-00450-2024 makes one point with particular clarity: consent doesn’t substitute for a DPIA. Barcelona had asked members to agree to biometric data collection, and members had agreed.

That agreement is legally irrelevant to the separate procedural obligation to assess risk before the system goes live. The GDPR treats them as independent requirements. Satisfying one doesn’t discharge the other.

What a valid DPIA actually requires, according to the decision, is a clear description of the processing, a genuine necessity and proportionality assessment, a detailed risk evaluation, proposed mitigation measures, and a residual risk assessment after mitigations are applied. Organizations that generate DPIA documentation as a compliance checkbox, without substantively working through those questions, remain exposed regardless of what consent language they put in front of users.

The appetite for facial biometric data has become near-universal across industries, and the Barcelona case lands in a moment when that appetite is accelerating faster than the rules meant to govern it.

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Senate Democrats Kill Trump-Backed Amendment to Ban Men from Women’s Sports – For the FOURTH Time

Senate Democrats once again blocked a common-sense Republican amendment that would have protected women’s and girls’ sports from biological males competing as transgender athletes.

On Saturday, the Senate voted 49-41 along strict party lines to kill the amendment to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

The measure needed 60 votes to advance and failed, marking the fourth time Democrats have shot down identical protections.

The amendment, known as the Protection for Women and Girls in Sports Act, was sponsored by Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Marsha Blackburn. It would have barred federally funded schools and programs from allowing biological males, those identifying as transgender women or girls, to compete in female sports categories.

Republicans introduced the amendment at the demand of President Donald Trump, who has made protecting women’s sports a top priority alongside the SAVE America Act’s core goal of requiring proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Tuberville blasted the repeated Democratic obstruction.

“This is the fourth time that I’ve had this bill on the floor. I’ll continue to try until I’m gone,” Tuberville said. “Every time that we’ve voted on this, I have not got one single Democrat to vote for it.”

Tuberville continued, “How about the trophies and awards that are stolen from young girls and ladies that work all their life to win a game or a sport … and they lose to somebody that’s much more physical, bigger, stronger and faster?”

Blackburn called the situation “disgusting,” pointing to cases like swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male who switched from the men’s team at the University of Pennsylvania to the women’s squad and went on to win a national championship.

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Young NASCAR Driver Indefinitely Suspended for Using “Gay Voice” to Mock Driver During Livestream 

A young NASCAR driver was indefinitely suspended for using a “gay voice” to mock another driver during a livestream.

22-year-old Daniel Dye was forced to apologize for ‘homophobic’ and ‘disparaging’ comments.

On Tuesday evening, Daniel Dye was penalized for ridiculing fellow driver David Malukas.

NASCAR.com reported:

Daniel Dye has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR after insensitive comments made during a recent livestream, officials announced Tuesday evening.

Dye, driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Ram in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, was penalized under Section 4.3.C in the NASCAR Rule Book, which states in part, “NASCAR Members shall not make … a public statement or communication that criticizes, ridicules, or otherwise disparages another person based upon that person’s race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, or handicapping condition.”

Dye was discussing his experience around NTT IndyCar Series driver David Malukas while opening trading cards on a recent livestream, during which the 22-year-old Dye used language that officials deemed unacceptable, resulting in Tuesday’s suspension. Dye must complete sensitivity training before he may return to competition.

Kaulig Racing also announced in a statement that the team has suspended Dye effective immediately “after becoming aware (Tuesday) of comments he made on social media.”

AJ Allmendinger was later announced as the fill-in driver for Friday’s race at Darlington Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Allmendinger, who drives full-time for Kaulig in the Cup Series, has 14 career starts in the Truck Series, with his last coming in 2021 at Watkins Glen International for GMS Racing.

Daniel Dye was later forced to apologize to the LGBTQ community.

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Voters in 3 States Gain Ballot Measures to Protect Girls’ Sports from Trans Athletes

Voters in three states will face upcoming ballot measures regarding protecting girls’ sports from transgender-identifying athletes and preventing minors from receiving sex changes, according to multiple reports.

Voters in states such as Colorado, Missouri, and Maine will be able to vote on the upcoming ballot initiatives in the midterm elections.

In Colorado, the organization Protect Kids Colorado got enough signatures for three ballot initiatives — Initiative 108, Initiative 109, and Initiative 110 — to qualify for the ballot, according to the Colorado Sun.

Under Initiative 108, child sex trafficking would be “punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole,” while under Initiative 109, transgender-identifying children would not be allowed to participate in sports that do not “align with their biological sex,” according to the outlet.

Under Initiative 110, “surgery on a child for the purpose of altering their biological sex characteristics” would not be allowed. The use of “state or federal funds, Medicaid reimbursement or insurance coverage” to pay for a minor’s sex change would also not be allowed.

While Rocky Mountain Equality, an LGBTQ non-profit, expressed that “the questions are ‘an attack on Colorado families,’” Erin Lee, who serves as the director for Protect Kids Colorado, said her group was “empowering everyday Coloradans to take action” and “protect children.”

“We’re empowering everyday Coloradans to take actions, protect children, and restore common-sense policies through the citizen-led lawmaking process,” Lee explained.

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Deranged Leftist AZ State Senator Attacks and Lectures Female Volleyball Player, Accuses Her of Being Weak for Refusing to Play Against Men – “How Competitive do You Think You Really Are?”

An Arizona State Senator berated a female volleyball player for wanting female-only sports on Wednesday during a Senate Education Committee Hearing, where they considered HCR 2003, the Protect Girls in Sports in Arizona Act. 

The Senator mocked and attacked the athlete’s “sports mentality,” suggesting she’s just not competitive enough to play against men.

Former NCAA athlete Kaylie Ray gave a public comment on the bill, which would simply designate each sport based on the sex of participating athletes and prohibit a school or athletic association from authorizing an individual to use a provided restroom, locker room, or other private space integral to athletic engagement that is not designated for the individual’s sex.

The bill would further require schools and Arizona athletic associations to designate competitive sports in three categories: men’s, women’s, and coed.

Ray, a former Utah State Volleyball captain, who “led a team forfeit against San Jose State in 2024, in protest of a trans athlete on San Jose State University (SJSU),” according to Fox, spoke in the Senate on her experience being forced to compete against a male athlete as a Division 1 college volleyball player. “Our basic right to a fair and safe competition was violated because the people who were meant to protect us decided that validating this individual’s identity was more important,” she said, urging lawmakers to ensure that women have equal opportunities, safety, and fairness in sports and private spaces.

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