Controversy Surrounds Heritage Foundation’s Title IX Report

Fox News articles are now available for listening. Recently, USA Today columnist Nancy Armour criticized the Heritage Foundation for its stance on Title IX, shortly after encountering backlash for her controversial column regarding Caitlin Clark.

Armour pointed to a report from the conservative think tank titled “Title IX’s Failed Experiment: Why Accommodating Sex Differences Beats Engineered Parity,” released earlier this month. The report criticized the current application of the 1972 federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded educational activities or programs.

The author of the report, Scott Yenor, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s American Citizenship Initiative, argued that stricter interpretations of Title IX have led to rigid equality in school sports, which he believes harms both male and female student-athletes.

Megan Rapinoe has said that efforts to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports are an ‘attack on women in society.’

The report from the Heritage Foundation criticized what it termed narrow enforcement of Title IX concerning female sports.

“Title IX evolved from a seemingly modest anti-discrimination statute into a powerful engine of feminist social engineering, complete with proportionality mandates,” the report stated. “This has resulted in two systemic distortions: a bias in favor of a male-based competitive model for women’s sports and a prejudice against men’s non-revenue programs.”

Armour argued that this indicates the organization is aiming to remove protections for female sports and reduce women’s rights.

“Our bodies, our self-confidence, our independence — they’re not going to stop until women have the same rights and opportunities they did before the 1970s,” Armour wrote.

Despite noting that some may think the Heritage Foundation’s efforts “will go nowhere,” as the law enjoys widespread support, she warned of potential repercussions.

“Project 2025 has already caused too much damage not to be taken seriously as a threat to Title IX,” Armour wrote. “The Heritage Foundation seeks a United States aligned with their White, Judeo-Christian, and heteronormative values, steadfastly eliminating deviations.”

Armour further commented on the foundation’s efforts, emphasizing a push to enforce a specific definition of femininity — suggesting that the movement began with the exclusion of transgender women from sports.

However, Yenor focused on advocating for reforms to Title IX. He suggested reducing emphasis on proportionality in sports heavily dominated by men and increasing opportunities in female-centric athletics like cheerleading, gymnastics, and volleyball.

“Equality under Title IX does not require identical outcomes or erasing sex differences. It requires opportunity based on human nature that reveals genuine differences between the sexes,” Yenor wrote.

Armour’s recent column followed backlash over her remarks on Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, for which she later apologized.

Lindsay Kornick, an associate editor for Fox News Digital, contributed to this report. Suggestions can be sent via email or on Twitter.