Washington, D.C
Why female athletes are coming to Washington – Washington Examiner
As a female athlete, I know that my most precious resource is my time. I started swimming at a young age. By age 8, I was swimming competitively, and by late middle school, I was devoting at least 20 hours per week to swimming. I gave up countless Christmas holidays, weekends, and social events to work toward my goal of swimming at the Division I level. My experience is not uncommon or unique. All female athletes have made sacrifices, like I have, in order to be the best at their sport.
So why are so many serious female athletes winding our way around the country on a bus right now to be a part of the Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition? Why are we using our scarce and valuable time this way? Why are we asking people to join us in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for a rally to Take Back Title IX?
For a couple of years now, the media have occasionally shared stories about men entering and winning women’s athletic competitions. You may have heard about runners in Connecticut, a woman’s fractured skull during a MMA fight, Lia Thomas facing Riley Gaines in the swimming pool. Yet these high-profile examples are just the tip of an already large and growing iceberg. According to SheWon.org, male athletes have entered hundreds of competitions across the country meant for women and taken spots on teams, medals and honors on award podiums, and even scholarships meant for female athletes.
Yet this already bad situation is about to get worse. The Biden administration has just rewritten Title IX, a law that was supposed to ensure that women have equal opportunity in education including athletics, to equate sex with “gender identity.” Basically, the new Title IX will require schools and athletic competitions to allow any athlete to opt into a competition that matches his or her self-proclaimed gender identity. So the best male athlete from last year can switch to competing in the women’s races this year if he wants to.
Claiming that somehow this “inclusion” of men doesn’t threaten female athletes is ridiculous. You don’t need to dig up scientific studies, though there are plenty providing this point. Just check out the world records for women’s and men’s competitions in every sport. You’ll see that men are consistently faster and stronger than women. That’s why there are women’s teams and men’s teams in the first place: If there weren’t, women simply wouldn’t win and often wouldn’t even make the team.
We can’t let the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite destroy women’s sports. I hear terrible stories of young girls who are coming up in their sports who are questioning whether they should bother playing at all since they expect that they will have to play against boys and those boys will invariably beat them and may even physically injure them far more seriously than any female competitor would.
That makes me furious. It makes me mad enough that I gave up time to travel the nation and to speak out. This isn’t about being anti-transgender or anti-anyone. It’s about being pro-woman and pro-reality.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
I want men who identify as women to be treated with respect. Yet those men should also respect the perspective of women who have different bodies and aptitudes. We don’t get flooded with testosterone during puberty. We get breasts and our periods, which can make competitions harder, not easier. It’s not fair to women to disregard this unchangeable reality of our bodies. Women and girls deserve a level playing field and sports of our own.
I’m joining the Our Bodies, Our Sports Take Back Title IX summer bus tour because I know that, right now, what we are fighting for is bigger than any single competition. We are fighting for the future of women’s sports itself. I won’t stand by and watch as female athletes are pushed aside. And if you care about women and fairness, neither should you. Take a stand to defend women and take back Title IX.
Paula Scanlan is an ambassador with the Independent Women’s Forum and a former swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a teammate of Lia Thomas.
Washington, D.C
Nurses at Washington D.C.’s largest hospital call on leadership to reverse planned cuts to maternal health
RNs at MedStar Washington Hospital Center say closure of postpartum unit will disproportionately harm marginalized and underserved communities
Union nurses at MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC) in Washington, D.C. are demanding that management stop the planned closure of an entire postpartum unit, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU). The hospital notified the union on May 26, 2026 of its intention to eliminate 11 maternal health beds and displace eight nurses by July 26, 2026, leaving MWHC with one postpartum unit.
In a follow-up town hall with staff nurses, Chief Nursing Officer Ariam Yitbarek confirmed the closure. Other leaders have additionally informed staff that the hospital will strictly limit scheduled C-sections and inductions for patients from numerous D.C. maternal health organizations. The list of organizations includes many that primarily serve low-income patients, immigrants, and patients of color, all communities with significantly higher risks of maternal mortality. Additionally, staff were informed that Kaiser Permanente, which notably insures a large number of DC city employees and even many of MWHC’s own workers, will see a strict limit on scheduling inductions and C-sections for their patients as well.
“Closing postpartum unit 5F will gravely impact those most affected by health disparities,” said Stephanie Sims-Coates, RN in the neonatal intensive care unit. “Our low-income families and families of color will be most affected by this closure. Families trust the medical staff at MWHC and plan to come to us for their care. In a city where Black women make up 90 percent of pregnancy-related deaths despite being only half the population, the hospital’s decision to close this unit is a significant mistake.”
Community leaders and healthcare workers are joining the call for MedStar to put patients before profits and keep the unit open. This past weekend, nurses met with D.C. mayoral candidate and Ward 4 councilwoman Janeese Lewis George about the planned closure and the impact it would have on DC’s most vulnerable residents.
“Maternal mortality is a crisis for Washington, DC, and our healthcare system needs to address the crisis immediately, rather than exacerbate the challenges that birthing parents face,” said Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George. “Now is the time to invest in health care, rather than make cuts. I want to work with the hospital to identify solutions that work for patients and the provider.”
“In my time at Washington Hospital Center, I’ve seen the hospital tout its Safe Moms, Safe Babies program and host a community baby shower specifically designed to call attention to the maternal mortality crisis,” said Marcqueata “Tiya” Butler, RN in the Mother/Baby unit. “Their current plan to shut down 11 postpartum beds betrays the hospital’s stated commitments. They are aware of persistent inequities in access to care. We are calling on the hospital to consider the impacts on the community, safeguard the mothers and infants of DC and commit to addressing the maternal mortality rate.”
In 2024, MedStar Health, a registered non-profit, reported $9 billion in operating revenue.
NNOC/NNU represents more than 2,200 registered nurses at Washington Hospital Center.
National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.
WASHINGTON (7News) — Tuesday was the last day the D.C. Council could vote to enact an expanded curfew in time for summer.
7News learned it never even made it on the agenda for a discussion and went to council members to find out why.
For the next two months, it’ll be up to the mayor to declare a curfew until the permanent version kicks in. There is already a city curfew. The curfew that has been up for debate for more than a year is the expanded version of the curfew. The expanded version allows the Metropolitan Police Department to create zones where teens 17 and under cannot gather in groups of nine or more.
RELATED | DC curfews pushed large groups into local neighborhoods, some residents say
Mayor Muriel Bowser currently has her own curfew order in place, which ends Saturday. The mayor can continue issuing an order. Councilmembers against the expanded curfew said that’s why it doesn’t need to come from the council.
In a video posted two weeks ago, D.C Council public safety chair Brooke Pinto said she wanted her councilmembers to vote to fill the gap today. 7News asked her why she never presented it to the council.
“Unfortunately, in working with my colleagues over the last several weeks, we did not have the votes,” said Pinto. “We have to have enough votes to pass the law and make sure that we didn’t have a gap.”
Bowser, in a letter to council Tuesday, said councilmembers Trayon White, Robert White, Zachary Parker, Brianne Nadeau and Janese Lewis-George are “blocking the will of the public and majority of council.”
7News spoke to three of the members she called out about the mayor’s pushback.
“I reject the rhetoric and the political games that are being played, and I’m wanting for us to get to the bottom of how do we stop the teen takeovers and the delinquent behavior we’ve been seeing,” Parker said.
“I stand by my belief that a curfew policy is a failed policy, kind of smoke and mirrors, and what we really needed is investments in our young people, so I’m pretty firm on that,” Nadeau said.
“We have to choose our tools and the time we use those tools. I’ve supported the curfew in the past, but I think with the current surge of more federal troops that have been impending, we’re putting our youth in even more danger by extending that work. I know the executive has put in an emergency executive order that will fill the gap. I hope that comes alongside extended hours, I’ve funded at DPR, extended weekends, and opening more safe spaces for youth here in the city. And that’s the solution that we do agree on,” Lewis-George said.
The mayor has not confirmed if she’ll issue another order, but it is on the table.
-
World43 seconds agoTrump expands Cuba sanctions beyond US companies in major crackdown on foreign enablers
-
Politics4 minutes agoBessent flips script on Dem senator with reminder about his son’s past ties to Epstein
-
Health16 minutes agoNew ways to prevent flu revealed in ‘accidental’ lab breakthrough, study finds
-
Sports19 minutes agoRussell Wilson announces retirement from NFL after 14 seasons
-
Technology24 minutes agoDark web monitoring: does it put your data at risk?
-
Business31 minutes agoIn a first for the country, voters in Monterey Park ban data centers
-
Entertainment34 minutes agoReview: Muscling past a flat script, a big-screen ‘Masters of the Universe’ embraces its own silliness
-
Politics46 minutes agoHilton and Becerra lead California’s unsettled governor’s race; Steyer faces elimination
