Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is protecting Virginia’s women and girls, and she’s not letting off the gas. On Thursday, Earle-Sears will be speaking at the Arlington County School Board meeting, where she’ll stand up against Arlington schools’ failed leadership.
The Trump administration has argued that Arlington schools are in violation—along with Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and Alexandria city schools—of federal Title IX law by allowing boys who identify as girls in girls bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports.
It’s sad that my home city of Arlington is harming girls, but I’m heartened that Earle-Sears is protecting them.
Title IX was written to protect girls, not erase them. These schools are on murky legal ground when they allow males into female spaces in schools funded with federal dollars, and they are opening themselves up to major lawsuits. They are at risk of losing tens of millions of federal dollars in the name of embracing anti-scientific, anti-woman ideological agendas.
When schools ignore Title IX, they’re not just bending the rules—they’re undermining decades of progress that women and girls fought for. This isn’t just about sports; it’s about safety, fairness, and opportunity.
Earle-Sears knows that if we allow males into girls locker rooms or athletic competitions, we are telling our daughters that their privacy doesn’t matter, their scholarships don’t matter, and their hard work can be erased.
When institutions stop standing up for equal rights, trust in those institutions erodes. We need leaders like Earle-Sears willing to stand firm, enforce the law, and remind everyone that Title IX was created to protect women, not redefine them out of existence.
I was glad to speak last week in Upperville, Virginia, at an event titled “Women Win With Winsome” hosted by Earle-Sears’ gubernatorial campaign with moderator Katie Gorka, who runs the Fairfax County GOP. Our panel also included Virginia state Sen. Tara Durant, R-Fredericksburg.
During the event, Earle-Sears paraphrased tennis star Serena Williams, who said men and women’s tennis were “completely almost separate sports” because of men’s innate physical advantages.
“When we’re talking about opportunity, we want to have an equal playing field, and it is not equal,” Earle-Sears said. “This isn’t something about what we’re against, it’s what we’re for. We’re for equal opportunity for our girl children, it’s really that simple.”
Gorka asked me about my work advocating for women’s opportunities, including speaking out against men stealing hundreds of medals and trophies from women across dozens of sports. I have also been writing about the failed record of Abigail Spanberger, Earle-Sears’ gubernatorial opponent. When she was in Congress, Spanberger voted against keeping men out of women’s sports and co-sponsored the so-called Equality Act that would practically redefine women out of existence.
When males are allowed to compete in women’s sports, it’s not just about a scoreboard, it’s about scholarships, college admissions, and career opportunities that are being taken away from young women who earned them.
I’ve spoken with female athletes across the country who have been told to simply “accept it”—and that’s unacceptable. We should be encouraging their courage, not punishing it.
Sears wants to stand up for fairness, safety, and equal opportunity, and I believe we owe it to every girl in our commonwealth to protect the integrity of her sport.
During Earle-Sears’ event, we also discussed public safety, a key issue for women, who are at a much higher risk of domestic violence than men. Public safety is fundamental to every other freedom we enjoy.
Earle-Sears noted that when prosecutors like Steve Descano, Fairfax County’s leftist commonwealth’s attorney, let violent offenders back on the streets within days, it’s not just a failure of the legal system—it’s a breach of trust with the community.
Victims feel abandoned, families live in fear, and criminals learn there’s no real consequence for their actions. Public safety shouldn’t be partisan—it’s the most basic responsibility of government.
Women know that Earle-Sears cares for our safety and well-being. Her policies would continue the work of Gov. Glenn Youngkin to protect women and girls in sports, prisons, locker rooms, and homes.
Virginia’s women and girls cannot afford to see our rights eroded in the name of trendy, non-scientific fads that defy logic, biology, and the law.
Carrie Sheffield is a Virginia voter and author of ”Motorhome Prophecies: A Journey of Healing and Forgiveness.”
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