What’s an observation that’s obvious to everyone except fringe radicals? I’ll start: biological men don’t belong in girls' sports.
To most, this is a factual, objective truth, based on biological science and reasoning. The only way for both sexes to compete fairly is to compete separately. That is the way it’s been since the start of organized sports, and that is the way it should continue to be.
But in recent years, Leftwing radicals have made it clear that they do not see this as an obvious truth. It’s no longer just a thought exercise among liberal academics: Joe Biden’s Department of Education is actively rewriting Title IX to force K-12 schools and universities to allow males to play in women’s sports.
The push to force girls’ sports to accept male competitors is just the latest front in the Left’s quest to redefine every aspect of our American life. They must be stopped, and it’s one of the main reasons I’ve raised my hand to run for U.S. Senate in Indiana.
I’m the father of three beautiful, talented girls who deserve a chance to compete on a fair field and have access to a locker room where they feel safe. They should have every opportunity to benefit from sports and competition just like their male peers do. Yet that opportunity is being ripped away.
The Left likes to say they only “follow the science,” so let's talk about the science. It is widely accepted throughout the scientific community that men are generally taller than women, have more muscle mass and have a higher baseline for speed. Even gender-altering hormones can not change this to a point where the playing field is completely level.
As the author Abigail Shrier has noted, the United States’ most decorated female track Olympian, Alyson Felix, has a personal best in the 400-meter race at 49.2 seconds, yet 300 high school boy athletes in the U.S. alone – not Olympians, but high schoolers – could beat her.
We’re seeing this play out before our eyes. Last summer, Lia Thomas, a biological man self-identifying as a female, represented the University of Pennsylvania at the NCAA swimming championship and won the women's 500-yard freestyle – and it wasn’t even close. The women whom Lia defeated worked hard through their childhood, middle and high school careers to compete at the top of the collegiate level – enduring countless early morning wakeup calls and grueling workouts – only to have the coveted top spot taken at a national championship by a biological man. Those young women were forced not only to compete against a biological male, but also forced to use the same locker room as that biological male. The University of Pennsylvania was clearly undisturbed, nominating Lia Thomas for the 2022 NCAA woman of the year.
The Left doesn’t want us to believe what our eyes see. And to question the new progressive orthodoxy will get you banned from social media platforms. I know because it’s happened to me.
But when the radical Left pushes a complete deconstruction of girls’ sports, and the Biden Administration attempts to enshrine this coup into law, a vocal and forceful response is necessary. I will not stand for anything that will make it harder for my daughters – or anyone else’s daughters – to succeed. Too many women worked too hard to break barriers to have new ones erected by the woke Left in the name of false “equity.”
That’s why I’m fighting back. This year, I started the first ever Congressional Anti-Woke Caucus to combat the woke cancer that has infiltrated our schools, businesses, and institutions. Republicans in the House are holding the Biden Administration accountable for radical changes like their proposed Title IX rewrite, but we need the same sense of urgency in the U.S. Senate. I’m running to be the commonsense, conservative fighter Indiana deserves in Washington.
Fairness in girls’ sports affects my family, families across Indiana, and the entire country. I’ll never back down from defending our daughters and their right to fair competition, because that’s what true equality is all about.
Jim Banks represents Indiana’s Third Congressional District. He is a conservative Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Indiana.