Secretary McMahon Remarks on UPenn Resolution Agreement

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining us today for this major announcement—a turning point in our fight to defend women’s sports from radical gender ideology.

The women joining us today, including Paula Scanlan and Riley Gaines, have been incredible voices—working so hard on behalf of the female athletes who will come after them.

So it’s appropriate that today’s announcement is a Resolution Agreement on Title IX and women’s rights with the University of Pennsylvania, where Paula and Riley’s fight began.

President Trump has shown leadership on this issue from Day One. He declared “No Men in Women’s Sports” as an early Administration priority.

Now UPenn, one of the most well-known offenders of Title IX, has agreed to change its athletics policy to ensure that no female athlete will ever compete against, or suffer the indignity of being forced to share an intimate facility with, a biological male. 

Not only that – the university will be sending a personal apology to every female athlete who was forced to compete against a man. They will also be removing all records set by a man in a women’s sports competition.

This is a major accomplishment and a milestone in our fight to restore sanity, fairness, and integrity to women’s sports.

The idea of keeping men out of women’s sports is a simple one. It’s based in common sense. But the fight to achieve this victory has not been easy or simple.

The day after President Trump signed his historic Executive Order, my Department launched a civil rights investigation into UPenn, and ultimately found it in violation of federal law. 

We were clear in telling UPenn that allowing men to claim they are women, so they can invade women’s locker rooms and compete against them in sports, was neither fair nor safe.

We told them that institutions that violate federal civil rights law could lose their federal funding. We went a step further and froze over a hundred million dollars in federal grants to show just how seriously this Administration takes Title IX enforcement.

So UPenn came back to the table and asked us what they can do to make it right.

We said, “You have to completely rewrite your institutional policy.”

They signed on the dotted line.

We said, “You have to take these steps with records and reporting so this never happens again.”

They signed on the dotted line.

We said “you owe Paula, Riley, and the other female athletes you’ve wronged a formal written apology. On Penn letterhead. In 10 business days.”

Even that provision made it into the agreement.

And, to Penn’s credit, despite the screeching of radical gende rideologues, it recognized the harm caused to these excellent female athletes and now seeks to make amends.

For the awareness of others, let me be clear: Putting men in women’s intimate spaces is not safe or reasonable. Putting them up against women in physical competition against women is not fair.

America knows it’s not fair. Even Gavin Newsom, who has held himself out as the champion of the radical gender ideology movement, knows it’s not fair. But gender ideology and its extremist supporters have intimidated many people—who know better—into silence about that biological fact.

Today, we’re grateful that it did not keep Riley quiet. It did not keep Paula quiet. It did not keep parents or students across the country quiet. And it did not keep Donald Trump quiet.

We applaud UPenn’s decision, and we advise every institution that is currently violating women’s rights under Title IX to follow suit—not just in college sports, but in K-12 and every other institution covered by Title IX.

Because not only is the law clear, but so is common sense. We all want what’s safe and fair for our women and girls. And this Administration will do whatever it takes to fight for them.

Thank you.