A coalition of Pennsylvania father-lawmakers rallied on Oct. 29 in the state Capitol’s Ryan Office Building atrium to promote legislation that would bar males from female sports teams in public schools and colleges.
The event, titled “Dad Legislators Call for Action to Defend Daughters in Sports,” highlighted House Bill 1849—“Dads Defending Daughters”—introduced on Sept. 5 by Republican state Reps. Clint Owlett, Eric Davanzo, Joe D’Orsie, Jonathan Fritz, and Joe Hamm.
The measure would require all public K–12 schools and state-funded colleges to designate athletic programs as male, female, or coed, and limit female categories to female athletes. It would take effect immediately upon enactment.
The lawmakers urged fathers across Pennsylvania to support the bill, saying the legislation is a moral obligation to ensure fair competition and safe spaces for female athletes.
High School Nightmare Fuels Grassroots Fight
Lily Williams, a former Hempfield School District student-athlete from Lancaster County, shared a chilling account that galvanized the crowd. In spring 2021, the girls’ track and field team entered their locker room to find a male cross-country runner sitting on their bench. His repeated presence there left the girls silent and unnerved; Williams, familiar with transgender athlete discussions but unprepared for it happening in her small town, fielded teammates’ confusion, frustration, and anger, as senior captain of the team. The bigger, stronger, and faster athlete’s presence inflicted a real psychological toll on them, transforming the locker room—a sanctuary of privacy, security, and intimacy for them—into a zone of distress and anxiety, she said. Many girls fled to porta-potties to change.
Williams said that when she confronted a coach, she was told nothing could be done, and discussion of the topic was forbidden. A team meeting mandated they simply “deal with it,” she said. Her principal dismissed her, leaving her humiliated, she said. Expecting parental outrage, Williams, with the support of her father, escalated it to the school board. Supportive members engaged, and with the Pennsylvania Family Institute’s help, a movement erupted.
Williams, her mother, and teammates spoke at every meeting, inspiring others from the community.
“Boldness begot boldness,” she said.
The next year, the board enacted a policy excluding boys from girls’ teams—who hailed it as compassionate common sense. Williams stressed this as a human, spiritual, and moral issue.
“I was accused of hatred, of bigotry, of ‘phobia,’” she said.
“But the truth is, I didn’t hate this boy. I care deeply for him. To me, he was and is a fellow human being made in the image of God, and he deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
“It’s not hate to tell the truth. It’s not cruelty to believe women and girls deserve fair competition, and it is not intolerance to want your daughters safe in locker rooms and bathrooms.
“Men do not belong in women’s sports. That is not controversial, that is not extreme. That is fairness, that is equality, and that is justice.”
