Champion Women is an American sex segregationist organization involved in keeping transgender athletes from competing in sex-segregated competitive sports.
It is part of a 2020s surge in opponents of transgender people in sex-segregated competitive sports.
The organization also monitors safety of female athletes and Title IX policy application in athletic programs at colleges and universities.
Background
The organization was founded by American Olympic swimmer and lawyer Nancy Hogshead-Makar.
Hogshead-Makar says Champion Women aims to “prioritize fairness for females, instead of prioritizing inclusion of transgender women into the ‘women’s’ sport category.”
Hogshead has stated: “It was not fair when I raced against doped-up East Germans and it is not fair for women to compete against trans-identified male swimmer Lia Thomas.”
Hogshead participated in the Our Bodies, Our Sports “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour organized by anti-trans group Independent Women’s Forum on behalf of Our Bodies, Our Sports.
People
- Nancy Hogshead-Makar (founder)
- Edward G. “Ed” Williams (board)
- Micki Joyce King (board)
- Janet B. “Mutti” Hogshead (board)
- Nancy Aileen Moon (treasurer)
References
Hays, Charlotte (August 5, 2024). Nancy Hogshead: Olympic Swimmer and Women’s Sports Champion. Independent Women’s Forum https://www.iwf.org/people/nancy-hogshead/
Rogin, Ali; Mufson, Claire; Yücel, Emine (June 25, 2022). How some schools sidestep Title IX’s protections for women. PBS News Weekend https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-some-schools-sidestep-title-ixs-protections-for-women
Barney, Justin (June 20, 2022). Olympic gold medalist Hogshead-Makar: Transgender ruling positive news for female swimmers. News4JAX https://www.news4jax.com/sports/2022/06/20/olympic-gold-medalist-hogshead-makar-transgender-ruling-positive-news-for-female-swimmers/
Staff report (May 31, 2022) Olympian Nancy Hogshead Fires Back At Trans Athlete Lia Thomas… ‘it Isn’t Fair.’ TMZ https://www.tmz.com/2022/05/31/nancy-hogshead-lia-thomas-trans-athletes-evidence/
Patterson, Steve (April 21, 2022). In transgender sports war, Jacksonville’s Nancy Hogshead-Makar builds support for nuanced rules. Florida Times-Union https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2022/04/21/jacksonville-olympic-medalist-touts-new-way-transgender-sports-fight/7192987001/
Kennedy, Dana (April 2, 2022). Moms fight for female athletes amid Lia Thomas controversy. New York Post https://nypost.com/2022/04/02/moms-fight-for-female-athletes-amid-lia-thomas-controversy/
Lohn, John (April 12, 2022). Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Champion Women Facing Lawsuit For Promoting Safety of Female Athletes; GoFundMe Set Up. https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/nancy-hogshead-makar-champion-women-facing-lawsuit-for-promoting-safety-of-female-athletes-gofundme-set-up/
Halloran, Jessica (April 1, 2022). Fair game: The woman who called out trans advantage. The Australian https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/olympic-champion-nancy-hogsheadmakar-on-why-trans-women-get-an-unfair-advantage-in-sport/news-story/88ea22784c6cdb593e902d4e052ce8c1
Nerozzi, Timothy (March 23, 2022). Women’s group CEO dissects Lia Thomas controversy: Not possible for ‘trans woman to roll back male puberty.’ Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/politics/womens-group-ceo-slams-ncaa-lia-thomas
Cruz, Dan (March 14, 2022). The Women’s Sports Policy Working Group and Champion Women release the results of two petitions asking Congress and sport governing bodies to prioritize competitive fairness for biological women. https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/results/pdf/champion-women-petition-ncaa-college-2022-03-15.pdf original URL: https://championwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Press-Release-Champion-Women-and-WSPWG-Petitions-updated-2022.pdf
Sostek, Dan (February 4, 2022). Group of Penn women swimmers send letter saying transgender teammate has unfair advantage. PennLive https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/02/group-of-penn-women-swimmers-send-letter-saying-transgender-teammate-has-unfair-advantage.html
Hobson, Will (April 15, 2021). The fight for the future of transgender athletes. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/04/15/transgender-athletes-womens-sports-title-ix/
Hogshead-Makar, Nancy (December 25, 2021). Guest Editorial: Sex Matters: Why Transgender Athletes Must Not Compete Against Biological Females. Swimming World https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/nancy-hogshead-makar-explains-problems-with-lia-thomas-situation/
Resources
Champion Women (championwomen.org)
Facebook (facebook.com/)
X/Twitter (x.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)