(FRANKFORT, Ky.) — Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is asking Congress to preserve protections for women’s sports as lawmakers weigh major legislation on the future of college athletics.
Coleman joined more than a dozen other attorneys general in a letter to House and Senate leaders. It urges them to keep safeguards for women’s privacy, safety and opportunities in S.4668, the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, before the bill goes to the president.
“Men don’t belong in women’s sports. Period. As the Attorney General and a father of two daughters, it’s my duty to keep men off women’s playing fields and out of their locker rooms,” Coleman said.
In the letter, the attorneys general said Republican state attorneys general “have fought tirelessly to close all loopholes that allow men to participate in women’s sports, and we have prevailed in the courts.” They noted that 27 states have laws barring males from women’s sports teams and said it would be “a grave disservice” to those states not to make clear that their legislatures can still enact and enforce such laws.
“To protect college sports, you have to protect women’s sports,” the attorneys general wrote. They acknowledged the issue is a challenging one and asked Congress to “speak clearly” so states can continue enforcing laws that prohibit biological males from competing in female sports.
Mississippi and Louisiana led the letter. Also signing were attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.
Coleman has been active on the issue before. In 2024, he led a coalition of attorneys general that took a challenge to the Biden administration’s Title IX regulations to the U.S. Supreme Court. After President Donald Trump’s reelection, Coleman was invited to the White House to meet with the U.S. attorney general about working together to protect female student-athletes. He also joined a multistate coalition urging the NCAA to restore titles, awards and records to female athletes who competed against transgender athletes.
