The National Organization for Women (NOW) now sees those who oppose the inclusion of trans athletes in women’s sports as proponents of “white supremacist patriarchy.”
In a social media post specifically targeting a group consisting of several prominent female athletes who are suing the NCAA for violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete against them and use their changing areas during the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships, NOW posted a statement to X blasting the female athletes as “weaponizing womanhood” to further the interest of “white supremacist patriarchy.”
Riley Gaines, one of the leaders of the group suing the NCAA and is pictured in the X post by NOW, shot back at the activist group, accusing NOW of using “oppression buzzwords” and suggesting legal action.
Gaines wasn’t the only one to take NOW to task for their statement. Soon after their post, a Community Note reminded the activist organization that trans athletes are not barred from competing in sports. They are just barred from competing in sports categories that do not coincide with their gender.
“Transwomen are still able to compete in the category of their birth sex or an Open category, they are not excluded from sport. World Aquatics prohibits anyone who has undergone any part of male puberty from entering the Female category,” the note read.
X users had fun mocking NOW for their post.
Since 2020, nearly two dozen U.S. states have banned or severely restricted males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.