These parents and athletes must hold their state legislators’ feet to the fire and insist on a change in the law to protect girls and women in their sports and for their privacy. They need to insist on hearings that include parents, athletes and scientists and be armed with the simple statistics that show the huge advantage males have by showing the hundreds of high school boys whose performances surpass even elite female college and Olympic athletes’ performances. There are no valid arguments to the contrary. They need to present solutions such as requiring valid birth certificates that have not been altered to be allowed to compete. There should be mass protests to insist on these changes and not let themselves be aligned with the right wing political infringement in the trans issue and depend on sheer common sense and science and decency and fairness to girls and women. As a former high school and division I college coach I know I would have had to resign rather than coach a male on my women’s/girls’ teams and be forced to lose against males in female events on other teams.
The operative word here is protests. The men and women in the sports establishment who are defending the indefensible are relying on female athletes' silence and compliance. They are pressuring parents to keep their opinions to themselves. Parents and athletes must refuse to be gagged. What are needed instead are ongoing peaceful protests and clever civil disobedience that does not expose the participants to excessive or unknown legal risks. The authorities must not be permitted to keep secret the identities of the boys and men who are crashing female sports. They need to be held accountable too. Those males have brought the publicity and controversy upon themselves.
The problem here is that most of the Democratic Party and their fellow travelers in the Never-Trump camp are firmly in the bag for so-called trans girl athletes and their adult counterparts. They are bold in their ignorance of the issues and the facts. All they know is that everyone has to be for team trans now more than ever, that public opinion is misguided and that anyone who isn't is a trans sports ally is a transphobic hater.
They will twist themselves into pink and baby blue pretzels to avoid acknowledging the fundamental unfairness of allowing biological males to compete against real females in female-only sports. There are only three trans girl athletes in the entire nation, they say. Girls don't really want or need to achieve success in sports, nor do they really want all the benefits that can come with that, they say. In the early years, they say, all that matters in girls' sports is the teamwork and other life lessons, they say. Who cares if a few boys are on the girls' teams, they say. It will only be worth talking about if trans girls and trans women completely shut out natal females in sports, they say. Some cishet women who see themselves as steadfast trans allies will say those poor trans girls are so put upon and hated. They just want to play a sport like any other girl. We owe them compassion, they say. Those TERFs have to stop being so mean to trans people, they say.
Who says all that? The better question is who doesn't. Over at The Bulwark we have Tim Miller and Jonathan V. Last. The acid-tongued former Republican operative and current Never Trumper Rick Wilson just cannot stop playing the trans victimhood card. In Rick's mind, MAGA's two principal targets are America's liberal constitution and trans people. Then there are Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow, otherwise excellent journalists who suffer from a bad case of TERF derangement syndrome. The list goes on and on. Until those thought leaders come around, girls and women who play sports are going to have to continue looking over their shoulders for the fake female who is out to steal their victory.
Never ceases to amaze me that the governing systems injecting men in women’s spaces is considered okay and progressive. Title IX was passed for a reason; society has been tossing that -and it’s goals - aside so some infinitesimal subset of men can feel good about themselves at the expense of women.
Anyone with a modicum of knowledge of sport knows that allowing men or boys to take part in women and girls sport is ridiculous and unfair. Shame on administrators and coaches who haven't taken a stand on this. Best wishes to the young women who are so unfairly deprived of their sporting rights.
It's hard to get a zealot to listen and comprehend an opposing opinion. They've made it clear that they believe boys are more important than girls. School Boards, Athletic Directors, City Council Members, and anyone who cannot get onboard with sex-based athletics and locker rooms, needs to be removed from office. Start recalls, make sure you vote them out of their positions. These young women and their parents are so amazingly brave. They are becoming educated far too early about serious sociological and political events. But they will be our future leaders, and that make me feel hopeful!
These parents and athletes must hold their state legislators’ feet to the fire and insist on a change in the law to protect girls and women in their sports and for their privacy. They need to insist on hearings that include parents, athletes and scientists and be armed with the simple statistics that show the huge advantage males have by showing the hundreds of high school boys whose performances surpass even elite female college and Olympic athletes’ performances. There are no valid arguments to the contrary. They need to present solutions such as requiring valid birth certificates that have not been altered to be allowed to compete. There should be mass protests to insist on these changes and not let themselves be aligned with the right wing political infringement in the trans issue and depend on sheer common sense and science and decency and fairness to girls and women. As a former high school and division I college coach I know I would have had to resign rather than coach a male on my women’s/girls’ teams and be forced to lose against males in female events on other teams.
I have a sort of flip side post coming up that I think you'll find interesting. Taking time for a summer trip in between though
The operative word here is protests. The men and women in the sports establishment who are defending the indefensible are relying on female athletes' silence and compliance. They are pressuring parents to keep their opinions to themselves. Parents and athletes must refuse to be gagged. What are needed instead are ongoing peaceful protests and clever civil disobedience that does not expose the participants to excessive or unknown legal risks. The authorities must not be permitted to keep secret the identities of the boys and men who are crashing female sports. They need to be held accountable too. Those males have brought the publicity and controversy upon themselves.
So Garcia said critics should "get a life". He is the one who should be getting life - a real one. Not the pretend life he is living.
The problem here is that most of the Democratic Party and their fellow travelers in the Never-Trump camp are firmly in the bag for so-called trans girl athletes and their adult counterparts. They are bold in their ignorance of the issues and the facts. All they know is that everyone has to be for team trans now more than ever, that public opinion is misguided and that anyone who isn't is a trans sports ally is a transphobic hater.
They will twist themselves into pink and baby blue pretzels to avoid acknowledging the fundamental unfairness of allowing biological males to compete against real females in female-only sports. There are only three trans girl athletes in the entire nation, they say. Girls don't really want or need to achieve success in sports, nor do they really want all the benefits that can come with that, they say. In the early years, they say, all that matters in girls' sports is the teamwork and other life lessons, they say. Who cares if a few boys are on the girls' teams, they say. It will only be worth talking about if trans girls and trans women completely shut out natal females in sports, they say. Some cishet women who see themselves as steadfast trans allies will say those poor trans girls are so put upon and hated. They just want to play a sport like any other girl. We owe them compassion, they say. Those TERFs have to stop being so mean to trans people, they say.
Who says all that? The better question is who doesn't. Over at The Bulwark we have Tim Miller and Jonathan V. Last. The acid-tongued former Republican operative and current Never Trumper Rick Wilson just cannot stop playing the trans victimhood card. In Rick's mind, MAGA's two principal targets are America's liberal constitution and trans people. Then there are Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow, otherwise excellent journalists who suffer from a bad case of TERF derangement syndrome. The list goes on and on. Until those thought leaders come around, girls and women who play sports are going to have to continue looking over their shoulders for the fake female who is out to steal their victory.
Now that Trump’s defending women’s sports many Dems have a knee jerk reaction to oppose him.
There are exceptions though and there needs to be more.
Never ceases to amaze me that the governing systems injecting men in women’s spaces is considered okay and progressive. Title IX was passed for a reason; society has been tossing that -and it’s goals - aside so some infinitesimal subset of men can feel good about themselves at the expense of women.
Anyone with a modicum of knowledge of sport knows that allowing men or boys to take part in women and girls sport is ridiculous and unfair. Shame on administrators and coaches who haven't taken a stand on this. Best wishes to the young women who are so unfairly deprived of their sporting rights.
It's hard to get a zealot to listen and comprehend an opposing opinion. They've made it clear that they believe boys are more important than girls. School Boards, Athletic Directors, City Council Members, and anyone who cannot get onboard with sex-based athletics and locker rooms, needs to be removed from office. Start recalls, make sure you vote them out of their positions. These young women and their parents are so amazingly brave. They are becoming educated far too early about serious sociological and political events. But they will be our future leaders, and that make me feel hopeful!