It's Been One Year Of Putting The 'Girl' Back In 'Girls' Sports' | Payton McNabb

In 2022, my life changed in an instant. During a high school volleyball match, I was severely injured by a biological male competing on the opposing girls’ team. The force of the hit knocked me unconscious. I suffered a traumatic brain injury that I still live with today — along with partial paralysis, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. I am a completely different person.

That injury ended my athletic career and altered my future forever, and it has fueled my motivation to speak out so this does not happen to any other woman or young girl. When I first spoke up about what happened to me, I was told that I should be quiet and "inclusive." When I asked why fairness and safety were suddenly deemed unimportant, I was called a bigot. 

Payton McNabb, a former North Carolina high school volleyball player who was injured by a transgender opponent, speaks during the hearing on "Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports" held by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

For a long time, I was dismissed by politicians who didn’t want to face the fact that men in women’s sports was an issue. Why? That posed a problem for their agendas and priorities in D.C. They treated it like it was a "fringe issue," like it wasn’t a topic that deserved attention or action. 

The former administration took actions to unlawfully rewrite Title IX, equating "sex" with "gender identity" — practically welcoming males into women’s spaces. 

But female athletes across America finally have a champion. 

In his first year back in office, President Trump moved quickly to re-center federal policy on biological reality. On National Girls and Women in Sports Day in early February, President Trump signed an executive order to keep males out of women’s athletic categories — a major win for female athletes like myself. I was proud to stand alongside the president and other female athletes who have been directly impacted by the male takeover of female sports. 

Since then, the administration has launched several investigations into university Title IX violations.

During National Women’s Sports Week, the administration reaffirmed that Title IX — the landmark law designed to protect women’s equal opportunities in education and athletics — was written to protect sex-based rights, not gender identity. On the 53rd anniversary of Title IX, I joined Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon and fellow women’s sports advocates in New Mexico to celebrate female athletes across generations and to champion the protections needed to ensure a strong, vibrant future for women’s sports.

Since Day One, the Trump Administration has asserted a clear position that women deserve their own category, their own opportunities and spaces, and their own safe playing field.

Payton McNabb (C) and Second Lady Usha Vance (R) attend U.S. President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

President Trump Continues His Unrelenting Support Of Women's Sports

After years of invalidation, I finally felt like someone in Washington was listening, and it wasn’t just political jargon either. President Trump was delivering on the promises he made on the campaign trail. He has elevated those who have been impacted by these egregious policies, including myself. I was honored to be invited to last year’s Joint Address to Congress, where he highlighted my story and how my life has forever changed since being injured.

One of the biggest disconnects I’ve encountered on this journey is this: fellow advocates and I are treated like radicals for defending women’s sports, even though the majority of Americans agree with us. Polling consistently shows that nearly seven in 10 Americans believe biological males should not compete in women’s sports. The American people understand what radicals refuse to admit: separate categories exist because sex differences are real, measurable, and consequential. 

Earlier this year, Independent Women released a third edition of "Competition: Title IX, Male Athletes, and the Threat to Women’s Sports." This report documents how male athletic advantages persist even after hormone suppression and treatments, and important facts that science cannot deny: biological men have larger hearts and lungs, more muscle and bone mass, stronger muscles, and less fat than females do on average. Although everyone may be born different, there is no denying that males have a significant advantage over females after going through puberty.

Protecting women’s sports does not deny anyone’s humanity. It protects women and girls from getting injured. It protects the girls who work tirelessly to qualify for playoffs and championship games — those who will get cheated out of fair play when it comes to their sport. It simply acknowledges biology and refuses to let girls pay the price for ideological experiments. 

I often think about how different my life would be if these protections had been in place sooner. I can’t change what happened to me, but I can fight to make sure it doesn’t happen to other girls. I can continue to link arms with those who also believe radical policies that erase the legal definition of women aren’t a path that our country should be going down. 

That’s why I continue to speak out. That’s why I continue to testify, travel, and advocate across the country. And I am beyond grateful for an administration that finally understands what’s at stake. 

Standing with women means protecting women’s sports even when the loud minority hurls insults. And for the first time in a long time, someone in power is doing just that. 

Payton McNabb is a sports ambassador for Independent Women and former three-sport high school athlete who turned tragedy into triumph after a traumatic brain injury ended her athletic future.