South Carolina S 860: Women's Sports

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 860 Text of Previous Version (Jan. 28, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 860

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A senate RESOLUTION

TO call on Congress to REAFFIRM TITLE IX'S 
PROTECTIONs THAT AFFORD every woman and girl equal opportunities in athletics 
and to urge the supreme Court of the United States to uphold THE authority OF 
EVERY STATE to ensure women's sports are reserved for females ONLY.

Whereas, with respect 
to biological sex, a person is either male or female; and

Whereas, there are 
inherent and enduring biological differences between males and females that put 
males at a competitive advantage in sports and jeopardize women's safety and 
privacy when they have to compete against males; and

Whereas, for more than 
fifty years, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. Section 
1681, et seq.) has guaranteed that no person shall, on the basis of sex, be 
excluded from participation in or denied the benefits of any federally funded education 
program; and

Whereas, Title IX's 
protections have historically recognized the biological differences between 
males and females, including sex-specific athletic teams in educational 
institutions to ensure equal opportunities for women and girls; and

Whereas, having 
separate sex-specific teams furthers efforts to promote sex equality by 
providing opportunities for female athletes to demonstrate their skill, 
strength, and athletic abilities while also providing them with opportunities 
to obtain recognition, accolades, college scholarships, and the numerous other 
long-term benefits that flow from success in athletic endeavors; and

Whereas, allowing males 
to compete in women's sports reverses fifty years of advancement for women; and

Whereas, science and 
common sense tell us that males generally have bigger bodies, larger hearts and 
lungs, denser bones, and stronger muscles than females, giving them a 
competitive advantage that cannot be undone with testosterone suppression; and

Whereas, in 2022, a 
male named Lia Thomas broke six records at the Ivy League Women's 
Championships, won four women's Ivy League championships, and won a women's 
NCAA championship in the 500-yard freestyle, beating two former Olympic 
medalists; and

Whereas, allowing males 
to compete in contact sports creates significant risks of physical harm; and

Whereas, in North 
Carolina, seventeen-year-old Payton McNabb suffered partial paralysis after 
competing against a male volleyball player who spiked the ball so hard it 
caused her severe head and neck injuries; and

Whereas, maintaining 
separate female sports teams based on sex promotes the safety of female 
athletes by protecting them from predictable and preventable injuries that 
could result from forcing girls to compete against male athletes; and

Whereas, allowing men 
into female-only spaces, including locker rooms, changing areas, restrooms, and 
overnight sleeping accommodations, erases the privacy and safety those spaces 
were built to protect; and

Whereas, in West 
Virginia, a seventh-grade girl named Adaleia Cross was forced to share a locker 
room and compete with a male athlete. That athlete sexually harassed Adaleia in 
the girls' locker room and took her spot in a championship track-and-field 
event. The distress robbed her of much of her passion for sports; and

Whereas, no person 
should have to compromise their dignity or privacy to validate someone else's 
subjective perception of their identity; and

Whereas, South Carolina 
enacted the Save Women's Sports Act in 2022, joining more than half the country 
in protecting fairness in women's sports; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina Senate recognizes and respects the physiological differences between 
the two sexes and is committed to protecting fairness in women's sports and 
safeguarding women's safety and privacy; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina Senate calls on Congress to enact federal legislation to reaffirm that 
Title IX guarantees every woman and girl equal opportunities in athletics and 
that allowing males to compete on women's teams or access women's private 
spaces violates Title IX; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina Senate urges the Supreme Court of the United States to uphold each 
state's authority to ensure the category of women's sports are reserved for 
females only and allow states to restore common sense, fairness, and safety in 
women's sports by recognizing biological truth. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate:

That the members of the 
South Carolina Senate, by this resolution, 
call on Congress to reaffirm Title IX's protections that afford every woman and 
girl equal opportunities in athletics and urge the Supreme Court of the United States 
to uphold the authority of every state to ensure women's