One of the great ironies of the Democrats’ social policy is that it usually ends up hurting the very people they claim to champion. At least, I used to think it was ironic. Lately, the pattern has become so persistent that I can’t help but wonder if it’s intentional.
Examples abound, from Affirmative Action to Obamacare to school closures in response to COVID. But never has the disconnect—if indeed it is—been more obvious than in the Biden* administration’s embrace of the “transgender agenda.” As most of you know, Biden signed an executive order last week paving the way for men to use women’s restrooms and play on women’s sports teams.
I’ll let someone else tackle that first issue. I try to keep this column out of the toilet as much as possible. But allowing men to supplant women in the sporting arena is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.
In the early 1990s, I took a job as head men’s basketball coach and athletic director at a small, two-year college in the rural South. At the time, the institution had no women’s sports programs. But working with the administration and community, I was able to rectify that situation within a few years, creating four women’s programs compared to three for men.
I embraced the task with enthusiasm not only because it was the law—how the college was able to get by in violation of Title IX for over 20 years, I’ll never know—but also because I believe deeply that girls and women have just as much right as boys and men to participate in athletics. And if that conviction was strengthened at the time by the fact that I had a sports-minded daughter, it has now been reinforced five-fold. Today I am the proud grandfather of five little girls, all of whom show early signs of athletic ability.
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That’s why I’m grateful for Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits discrimination based on sex for any federally-funded education programs, including high school and college athletics. It has enabled three generations of girls to enjoy a wide variety of sports, compete at a high level, and earn college scholarships. Unfortunately, all the gains generated by Title IX are now threatened by the transgender agenda, which seeks to allow biological males (also known, scientifically, as “males”) to compete in girls and women’s sports. Such a policy can only result in reduced opportunities for biological females (aka, “females”).
To put it plainly, that simply isn’t fair.
We’ve already seen cases, in high school and college track and field, where males have dominated female running events. That means girls who trained hard for years to compete and win against other girls were denied their spot on the stand—or even in the race itself. Imagine if it were your daughter who didn’t medal or failed to qualify because a boy beat her. Or who missed out on a college scholarship that was awarded instead to a male athlete. I would be livid. In fact, when I think about my granddaughters, I am livid. This cannot be allowed to stand.
I have nothing against transgender people. If a guy wants to self-identify as a gal, as far as I’m concerned, that’s his business. This is America, where you can live your life any way you want as long as you don’t infringe on anyone else’s rights. The problem is, requiring females to compete against males DOES infringe on the rights of the former, negating their efforts and unfairly denying them opportunities.
Transgender advocates argue that boys who identify as girls actually ARE girls. No, biologically, they’re not—and in sports, biology matters. Others insist that males have no inherent physical advantage over females. I’m sorry, but anyone who believes that is either seriously delusional or has never played sports (or both).
Women and girls can indeed be excellent athletes, within their own sphere. But they cannot consistently compete against boys and men—nor should they have to.
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