Patriot Mobile joined Texas Values, Moms for Liberty, Moms for America, Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), and other organizations outside American Airlines Center in Dallas on August 20 for a Save Women’s Sports rally supporting fairness, safety, and opportunity for female athletes.
Held before the Dallas Wings faced the Indiana Fever, the rally showed support for Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who has publicly defended maintaining a protected female category in athletics. Her willingness to speak out follows other female athletes, including Riley Gaines and Brooke Slusser, who have helped bring national attention to the debate surrounding women’s sports.
The rally brought together athletes, parents, advocates, and organizations who share a concern for preserving the opportunities women fought decades to achieve. From scholarships and championships to records and roster spots, speakers emphasized that the creation of women’s athletic categories gave generations of girls the opportunity to compete on a fair playing field.
Kim Slusser, mother of former San José State volleyball player Brooke Slusser, shared her family’s experience after Brooke learned that a transgender athlete on her team was biologically male. Brooke later joined litigation challenging NCAA policies governing transgender participation in women’s athletics. Kim spoke about the scrutiny their family faced after Brooke decided to speak publicly and thanked Cunningham for using her own platform to advocate for women and girls.
Patriot Mobile Vice President of Strategic Partnerships Danielle Buck also addressed the rally. As a former Division I athlete, Buck reflected on the women whose advocacy made her own athletic opportunities possible.
“I became a Division I athlete because of doors that had been opened before I ever even arrived, and I will never take that for granted,” Buck said.
She emphasized that the purpose of protecting women’s sports is not to attack or demean others, but to preserve fair opportunities for female athletes. “We can treat every person with dignity and compassion, while still having the courage to say that fairness matters,” she said.
The Dallas rally was part of a growing effort to support athletes willing to speak publicly about maintaining sex-based categories in women’s athletics. For the organizations gathered outside American Airlines Center, the message was ultimately about ensuring that the progress made by previous generations of women is not lost for the girls coming behind them.
Patriot Mobile is proud to stand alongside Texas Values and organizations working to protect women’s sports and encourage athletes, parents, and citizens to make their voices heard. As Buck told those gathered in Dallas, “Women’s sports are worth protecting and our daughters are worth standing up for.”
