Dads Defending Daughters: Lawmakers Continue Work to Ensure Fair Play for Women’s Sports
HARRISBURG – While majority House Democrats continue to block efforts to stop men from participating in women’s sports, a group of dads – who also serve as state lawmakers – are calling on fellow fathers across the Commonwealth to protect the rights of all daughters to compete on a level playing field.
Reps. Clint Owlett (R-Tioga/Bradford), Eric Davanzo (R-Westmoreland), Joe D’Orsie (R-York), Jonathan Fritz (R-Susquehanna/Wayne) and Joe Hamm (R-Lycoming/Sullivan) introduced a new version of the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” on Sept. 5 in an effort to finally prompt House action on the bill. The legislation, now titled “Dads Defending Daughters,” would have the same effect as its predecessors, requiring public school entities and public institutions of higher education to ensure their sports activities are designated as male, female or coed, and expressly prohibiting biological males from competing in teams or sports designated for females. The main difference? The bill takes effect immediately.
“We’ve wasted far too much time on what should be a commonsense vote for any logical person in the Legislature,” said Owlett. “We are calling on our fellow dads across the Commonwealth to join us in standing up for the rights of all of our daughters to enjoy fair competition, along with the lessons learned and opportunities earned through participation in team and individual sports.”
“This is a fight not just for my daughter, but for your daughter and for every little girl in Pennsylvania who deserves fair opportunity in the sports they love,” said Davanzo. “Recently, the governor did a social media video to hype up the Little League Softball World Series, but he failed to mention that he lacks the will to protect that opportunity from males pretending to be females. We have to stop this.”
“Our girls, like my 7-year-old daughter, deserve a measure of safety, privacy and fairness when they suit up for the field, court or pool,” said D’Orsie. “Backtracking on Title IX protections for girls is discriminatory and cruelly erases the progress we’ve made on behalf of girl athletes. It’s time that we as a legislative body find the courage to protect girls’ sports in the Commonwealth.”
“Sixty-six girls have lost medals or placement since 2020 in Pennsylvania due to biological males invading their space in sports,” said Fritz. “This is not conjecture. It’s a fact, and it’s just plain wrong. We cannot continue to allow woke extremism, and our governor and his far-left coconspirators, to continue to block justice for our girls.”
“As a dad of two daughters who has taught my girls to compete fiercely and never give up, it’s inconceivable to me that they could be forced to compete against boys,” said Hamm. “Girls cannot be made to be spectators at their own sport because of Democrat inaction and stall tactics. We need to pass this commonsense legislation now to protect Pennsylvania girls.”
The lawmakers noted Democrat leaders in the House are doing all they can to avoid this issue by conducting “legislative gymnastics.” In July, majority Democrats responded to a discharge resolution on
Senate Bill 9 by re-referring the bill to the House Health Committee. The House Education Committee chairman argued the bill would be more appropriately addressed in the Health Committee. However, on Tuesday, the dads’ bill,
House Bill 1849, was reported to the House Education Committee anyway.
The Dads Defending Daughters group stated, “This issue has broad bipartisan support across the state and across parties. Five Democrats in the state Senate supported Senate Bill 9 when it was adopted by a 32-18 vote in early May. We all know the re-referral to the Health Committee was a ruse, and they proved it with the appropriate referral of our bill today to the Education Committee. It will be quite interesting to see how they spin their continued denial to defend our daughters.”
Representative Clint Owlett
68th District
Representative Eric Davanzo
58th District
Representative Joe D’Orsie
47th District
Representative Jonathan Fritz
111th District
Representative Joe Hamm
84th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media contacts:
Owlett and D’Orsie: Patricia Hippler, phippler@pahousegop.com
Davanzo: Jordan Frei, jfrei@pahousegop.com
Fritz: Tracy Polovick, tpolovick@pahousegop.com
Hamm: Kalie Morrow, kmorrow@pahousegop.com