Without really planning to, I’ve been doing a lot more in-person activism and advocacy. Two addresses before the school board, two Sophie Cunningham rallies, and now, three minutes in front of the Minnesota State High School League suggesting there’s quite a bit of evidence that boys are not girls, but yet—and I have struggled with whether to tell them straight out that they have knowingly fucked over girls for the last 12 years by inviting boys into girls sports and private spaces—they continue to act as if boys are girls if they say so. It was apparently really easy to convince them in 2014 that boys were girls because they did it without asking the 509 member schools in, like, a matter of hours. But we’re having a heckuva time convincing them of the binary nature of the way our species has reproduced for several hundred million years. And we’ve been at it for decades.
I believe I’ve mentioned before how very very uncomfortable I am talking, where stuff comes out in beta, as opposed to writing, where you have all the time in the world to delete and start over. But here’s the thing—I have the time and I’m physically able to do this uncomfortable work. I’m old. I have no shame. I have no excuse. It’s like having a lot of sex; what else am I going to do?
Anyway, that’s my excuse for not writing specifically for The Female Category. I cannot just wing these things. I spent a freaking ton of time writing out my three-minute expository speech to the Minnesota State High School League. Here’s what I came up with. To that point, don’t just read this damn thing; time yourself. You’ve got three minutes. Go!
I’m a journalist, having written about women’s sports for decades. I was also a middle school coach for 10 years. The many coaches I’ve spoken with know allowing boys in girls’ sports is wrong. They know girls’ sports exist because sex matters in athletics. Being male produces advantages in strength, speed, skeletal structure, and endurance that don’t disappear with girl beliefs, hormones or surgery.
The MSHSL maintains categories for school size, cognitive and physical impairment, weight, age, and level of ability to maximize inclusion, safety and fair competition. But you have abandoned sex categories. Girls’ sports are an inclusion strategy for girls—including girls with boy and nonbinary identities. No boy is eligible for girls’ sports. He is eligible for boys’ sports, regardless of his identity. Single-sex sports are and always have been 100% inclusive of all students
In 2014, the MSHSL “opened up” girls’ sports to boys, effectively abolishing girls’ sports and turning that category into mixed sex sports. By including both sexes, Girls and Boys sports cease to exist. The Girls’ category, like any category, is absolute; either it’s 100% female or it is mixed sex. There is no such thing as Mostly Girls Sports. Either girls deserve single-sex sports and locker rooms, or they don’t. You have decided they don’t.
But most people don’t realize that because the MSHSL still offers something called Boys and Girls’ sports. Girls who sign up for Girls’ soccer expect to play with and against only girls. They expect to undress in the Girls’ locker room with only girls. Your current policy ensures that girls have NO right to sports or private spaces free from boys. You’ve betrayed their trust, you’ve betrayed your mission, violated Title IX and the funding contract associated with it, and deliberately misrepresented what you’re offering.
Attorney General Keith Ellison would have you believe that female sports for females only is against state law. It is not. The Minnesota Human Rights Act has specific exemptions for single-sex athletic teams, locker rooms and bathrooms. The Supreme Court ruled that sex-based eligibility is enforceable under Title IX, protected under the Constitution, and is NOT illegal discrimination.
I urge the MSHSL to forward Make It Fair MN’s amendment to restore single-sex sports and spaces.
"The Minnesota Human Rights Act has specific exemptions for single-sex athletic teams, locker rooms and bathrooms."
That's very good, because the law in most blue states does not have such an exemption. So complaining to school boards and athletic associations in those states is useless, because school boards and athletic associations have to follow the law. I wish more people understood that.
Minnesota is insane with this policy. Completely lost in trans ideology.