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President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday afternoon that bans biological males from participating in female sports. The signing of the “No Men in Women’s Sports” order took place in the White House, with President Trump surrounded by girls who participate in various sports- all of whom applauded the signing as it happened. Coming in the midst of a spate of bills and executive orders signed by Trump in his first weeks in office, what does the bill signing mean beyond the obvious symbolism? Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY 11) appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to state why this bill is so significant to her constituents.
“It’s the right thing to do,”Malliotakis told host Larry Mendte. “When you see how, in a boxing ring [in the Olympics], a young girl was knocked out by a biological male 45 seconds into a match, how is that right? How is that fair? And what you saw happen with Riley Gaines in her swim meet, that she was defeated by a biological male… I’m not just saying he did it for that reason, but is it fair to Riley Gaines and other women who worked so hard to compete with somebody who physically, obviously, has more strength and ability to defat girls and take away those scholarship opportunities and those wins?”
Malliotakis expanded on why she believes the ban means the right people get rewarded for the sacrifices that go along with their athletic enthusiasms. “Women fought so hard to get equal pay in many of these sports, and also Title IX, to get scholarship opportunities, and now, to try and erase that, to try and make it more difficult for them, and unfair, in such an unfair way to erase this women’s history, I think is very wrong. But to see those young girls standing with President Trump, happy to see that their sports are going to be protected, that their competitiveness and scholarships are going to be protected, it just makes total sense.”
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