Title IX through the eyes of current and former male athletes

STATELINE, Nev. (KOLO) - Title IX passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, the landmark legislation is 50 years old. We caught up with some of the celebrities participating in the 33rd annual American Century Championship in Stateline, to hear their perspectives on the progress for women’s equality.

Title IX applies to multiple areas of education; the classroom, admissions, athletics, employment, retaliation, and any sexual assault or violence on school grounds.

“We’ve had far too long where women were underserved and under-budgeted and those days should be over and they’re not over yet,” ESPN Analyst Jay Bilas details. He covers men’s and women’s sports and says there are too many disparities still present, adding, “There seems to be some sort of push back when you say, hey we’re not at equality and people respond with...but we’ve come a long way, but that’s not equality.”

The WNBA is one example. The league has far fewer teams, much smaller salaries, and players travel commercial...which isn’t the case in the NBA.

“Sue (Bird) and Sylvia (Fowles), they’ve been amazing people, Title IX, you know... we just got a Black woman on the Supreme Court and that was really cool and special, so we got a long way to go but we gotta keep grinding,” NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley adds.

America’s landscape is changing as more people are taking authority over how they are identified. There’s currently nothing in Title IX that protects LGBTQ+ people...but President Biden says the law should be interpreted to stop discrimination based on gender identity.

Former Arizona Cardinals Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald tells KOLO 8, “You would think that that would be a given right, but even our supreme court doesn’t understand that, and I just hope that, the people, the voices that matter in our country, who continue to fight for the things that’s right because everybody deserves a fair chance.”

The Biden administration says it wants to replace some controversial rules issued during the Trump era, but there must first be a public feedback period before any changes. That means the earliest we could see anything new or different is 2023.

2011 Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III adds, “Being a girl dad, I definitely pay attention to those things even more so than I did before I had daughters, because I want them to have equal opportunities to go out and fulfill their dreams.”

Fellow girl dad, and 4-time NBA Champion Stephen Curry is also a supporter, telling us, “You have to be living under a rock if you don’t understand how important that mission is and the awareness of, like you said, equality and the right investment in women’s basketball game, the WNBA and every sport.”

From the famous mouths of some of the athletes who just left Tahoe, America is still chasing justice and equality for all.

Here are some of our previous articles regarding Title IX:

1.) https://www.kolotv.com/2022/06/23/biden-administration-moves-expand-title-ix-protections/

2.) https://www.kolotv.com/2022/06/20/explainer-what-is-title-ix-what-impact-has-it-had/

3.) https://www.kolotv.com/2022/06/23/recognizing-impact-title-ix-university-nevada-reno/

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