Title IX controversy- Senator Risch honors Barbara Ehardt’s advocacy for Women’s Sports

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Idaho senator Jim Risch is recognizing the action of local state representative Barbara Ehardt in her efforts to spearhead a bill protecting women's sports in Idaho.

Wednesday, Senator Risch presented representative Ehardt with a letter commemorating her "fight to protect Title IX and protect the freedoms of female athletes."

Senator Risch says he will join Ehardt on the national stage as they continue to oppose changes to the Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX.

"Title IX is not just a bureaucratic regulation, it is a representation of our dedication to fairness and the opportunity for men and women and American values," Risch told reporters. "We must not erase the contributions of women and girls in athletics. We must empower and provide a framework that allows young girls and women to play, compete and win."

Senator Risch says he's written a letter to the NCAA and is waiting for a response.

The move comes after Governor Brad Little signed executive order 2024-08, The Defending Women's Sports act. 

Idaho is numbered among 26 states where elected officials have sued the Biden administration over changes to Title IX.

In late September, several regional schools, including Boise State and Utah State, forfeited volley ball matches against San Jose State in protest of competing against a transgender woman.

Following the controversy, San Jose State Volleyball player Brooke Slusser joined the lawsuit challenging the NCAA rules regarding transgender athletes.

As a former division 1 athlete, representative Ehardt has repeatedly said Title IX changed her life.

"I was an eight year old child, when people would say, what do you want to do when you grow up? And I would tell them that I wanted to play athletics, and I literally was told, that's not what girls do," said Ehardt.

Despite the naysayers, Ehardt says she kept to her dreams and continued on to play collegiately on a Division one scholarship.

"This issue it transcends politics. It doesn't matter if you're Democrat, Republican, black, white, rich, poor. No one wants their daughters and their granddaughters to have to compete against boys and men," said Ehardt.