I'm not sure exactly what Olympic medal you get for coming in 2,500th, but I'm guessing it falls somewhere between lint and yard clippings.
Of course it's highly unlikely that the top 2,500 men in the 100 meters would suddenly begin identifying as trans-women and compete in the Olympics, but the fact remains that there is a reason why sports are bifurcated by sex.
Men have a distinct physical advantage in most sports, from greater muscle density, to bigger bones, to greater lung capacity and advantages in height, reach, and power.
We are endlessly lectured that gender and sex are different. In fact, that is the whole premise of the transgender movement and why distinctions are made between "transgender" and "transexual."
Transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth.[1][2][3] Some transgender people who desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another identify as transsexual.[4][5
Males and females do not compete separately on the athletic field because of their "gender," the compete separately because of their sex.
You want to "change" your gender? Change your gender, but that does not mean you've simultaneously changed your sex, and if we separate sports competitions by sex, then what gender you are should not matter. You can be any gender you want, but if you are a male by sex, you should compete against other males.
The ACLU, which has long since abandoned any pretense of caring about civil liberties choosing instead focus its energies on being woker-than-thou, has sued Idaho over a law prohibiting biological males from competing against women in sports.
They even prepared a "myth-debunking" post. How did it go?
Ever see the Myth Busters episode where they missed their target and blew a hole through a nearby house with a cannonball?
Kind of like that, only with less screaming.
This is what they led with:
Many who oppose the inclusion of trans athletes erroneously claim that allowing trans athletes to compete will harm cisgender women. This divide and conquer tactic gets it exactly wrong. Excluding women who are trans hurts all women.
Further, this myth reinforces stereotypes that women are weak and in need of protection.
This is one of the left's favorite rhetorical devices.
It goes something like this:
"Shut up."
Okay, so it's not exactly Socrates, but it often works.
If you get too close to the truth, they want you to shut up, and they do that by calling you names. It's slightly more subtle here. Typically they'd just come right out and scream "sexist!!" but it's the same thing. If you oppose biological males competing against women in sports, you must think women are weak and in need of protection.
It preys on lingering societal guilt over the long history of women being denied access to certain jobs and activities because they were deemed too weak or in need of protection.
Except this isn't that.
When it comes to sports, women really are comparatively "weak and in need of protection."
That's a fact, and stating facts is not sexist, even when it's inconvenient to your narrative.
If you don't believe that "women are weak and in need of protection" when it comes to athletic competition, you don't believe there should be such a thing as women's athletics.
You don't believe there should be a WNBA, LPGA, or an NWSL.
You do believe that if women want to compete in MMA, they should have to fight their way up through the ranks alongside the men.
You believe Serena Williams shouldn't be acclaimed as the single greatest woman's tennis player in history and an inspiration to young girls everywhere, but rather just a middle-ranking competitor eking out a decent living on the tour.
It's just a simple fact of biology.
Also, you're a sexist.
Then they make this argument.
Women and girls who are trans face discrimination and violence that makes it difficult to even stay in school. According to the U.S. Trans Survey, 22 percent of trans women who were perceived as trans in school were harassed so badly they had to leave school because of it. Another 10 percent were kicked out of school. The idea that women and girls have an advantage because they are trans ignores the actual conditions of their lives.
I will be the first to admit that navigating the Lord-of-Flies culture that is the typical middle school lunchroom is hard enough without adding transgenderism to it, and firmly believe in people's right to be left alone by bullies and other jerks, but this is a non-sequitur. We're talking specifically about sports competitions, not who gets to sit at the cool kids table.
The ACLU goes on:
Trans athletes vary in athletic ability just like cisgender athletes. "One high jumper could be taller and have longer legs than another, but the other could have perfect form, and then do better," explains Andraya Yearwood, a student track athlete and ACLU client.
That is true, but irrelevant. And again, if that's your argument, individuals differ in their abilities, why bother to have separate sports competitions for men and women in the first place?
And while we're at it, let's throw in some class envy. I mean, if you're going to make a woke casserole, might as well not skimp on any of the ingredients!
"One sprinter could have parents who spend so much money on personal training for their child, which in turn, would cause that child to run faster," she adds.
The ACLU then drops the sCIeNce bomb:
"A person's genetic make-up and internal and external reproductive anatomy are not useful indicators of athletic performance,"according to Dr. Joshua D. Safer. "For a trans woman athlete who meets NCAA standards, "there is no inherent reason why her physiological characteristics related to athletic performance should be treated differently from the physiological characteristics of a non-transgender woman."
Dr. Safer is not an entirely disinterested observer, he's an expert witness for the ACLU.
I have not previously testified as an expert witness in either deposition or at trial. I am being compensated at an hourly rate of $250 per hour for preparation of expert declarations and reports, and $400 per hour for time spent preparing for or giving deposition or trial testimony. My compensation does not depend on the outcome of this litigation, the opinions I express, or the testimony I provide.
"My compensation does not depend on the outcome of this litigation, the opinions I express, or the testimony I provide," but whether or not you get hired again surely does.
Dr. Safer probably believes everything he is saying, but he is not the final authority on this matter, he is a single paid consultant hired by a pro-trans-gender advocacy group.
I read Dr. Safer's testimony. Unsurprisingly it's basically a regurgitation of the ACLU's arguments and references one study regarding hormone therapy.
The only study examining the effects of gender-affirming hormone therapy on the athletic performance of transgender female athletes is a small study of eight long-distance runners.
That's not a study, that's an anecdote.
Speaking of hormone-affirming therapy, many athletic associations have set limits on the amount of testosterone trans-athletes can have circulating in their blood, settling on between 5 and 10 nanomoles per liter of blood.
Compared to the "normal" male range of between 7.7 to 29.4 nanomoles for males post-puberty, that sounds... okay.
But what they often don't tell you is what the normal range is for biological females. And not just biological females, but biological females who are also elite athletes. That number?
Between 0.12 to 1.79 nanomoles per liter.
And that's how you end up with a trans-female power lifter who transitioned in her 30s after decades of testosterone producing winning power lifting championships, a trans-female track cyclist winning championships in her sport, and high school trans-female athletes in Connecticut doing the same.
The ACLU finishes with an emotional appeal.
When a person does not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth, they must be able to transition socially — and that includes participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. According to Dr. Deanna Adkins, excluding trans athletes can be deeply harmful and disruptive to treatment. "I know from experience with my patients that it can be extremely harmful for a transgender young person to be excluded from the team consistent with their gender identity."
That may very well be true, but what about the harm done to female sports?
What about the scholarships lost, the championships not won, the endorsements never signed because you were born a woman and are being being forced to compete against biological males.
Life is unfair. People who believe themselves to have been born into the wrong gender have a tough road ahead of them, and they don't need anyone making it any tougher.
But that does not mean we can ignore basic fairness to 50% of the population, particularly having fought so long and hard just to be able to have any sports to compete in at all.
