Thursday, March 18, 2021
Political Mayhem Thursday: The Equality Act
And amid all this, Republicans seem to have identified their number one threat to America: Transgender girls. In their made-up world, transgender girls are about to take over and destroy sports. In their minds, somehow, the two reasons that people pursue transgender therapies-- with all the cost, dislocation, loss of support and relationships and castigation that go with it-- are (1) to skulk around in bathrooms, and (2) to dominate girls sports.
The Senate was debating the Equality Act yesterday, which would give trans girls and women some basic rights (among other reforms for LGBTQ people). Ted Cruz was himself: going on about the end of women's sports and how downtrodden pastors would somehow be harmed by the bill. In response, we got to hear from a truly remarkable 16-year-old, Stella Keating:
I hope you really will watch that video.
The idea that the trans girls and women will destroy sports is particularly laughable. Having spent 10 years watching the Baylor Lady Bears basketball team destroy frat guys in practice, it's hard to imagine that some trans girl who is taking estrogen (which reduces muscle mass and lung capacity) really is going to become so dominant that everyone else just gives up. Not going to happen.
And, in fact, it hasn't happened. Since the early 2000's, trans athletes have been allowed to compete in the Olympics. Not one trans athlete has qualified for an Olympic team. Not one. And the same is true for the NCAA: Trans athletes have been able to compete in college sports for over a decade, but none of them have come to dominate a sport.
The thing that is sad about this is that Republicans should have something else to care deeply about rather than trans girls and women who just want to live their lives without being ostracized (in addition to Mr. Potato Head and several obscure Dr. Seuss books). Congress just passed a $1.9 trillion bill that will have significant impact on the national debt-- something conservatives (even LGBTQ conservatives, which exist) used to care about. Instead, they are deadset on finding solutions for things that are not a problem.
Picking on oppressed people for political gain through lies and fear-mongering is cruel and wrong, and that is exactly what Cruz and company are engaged in.
Trans issues are new issues in our political culture. So, I probably have less animus for politicians and citizens who are trying to work through the facts to find the right course of action. My sense is that we will adjudicate all this (in the political sense) in a reasonable and humane way.
In terms of "bloviation" and "pathetic...lies and fear mongering," please allow me to add a few facts and less incendiary tone to this argument.
In fact, science tells us that men on the average are athletically superior to women in most sports (including basketball). While our beloved Lady Bears are easily able to beat the hell out of a team of loudmouth frat boys, they are no match for a Division I men's team. This is why we have separate divisions. If the WNBA champions were competitive with an NBA team, we would play a made-for-TV game. If the WNBA champions were competitive with the NCAA Div I champions, we would play a made-for-TV game. But they are not. Same thing for soccer. Same thing for tennis.
The issue of transwomen competing in women's sports is more serious than you think. For example, one of my old heroes (and probably yours as well), Martina Navratilova has been very public on this issue. A couple of paragraphs from an ESPN story from February in which she asked President Biden for a "cut out" on the Equality Act:
She said she opposed "an all-inclusive situation where trans men and women, just based on their self I.D., would be able to compete with no mitigation, no rules outside of that whatsever. And that clearly would not be a level playing field."
Navratilova was among those who launched the Women's Sports Policy Working Group on Tuesday to work for a "science-based, ethical approach" to "establish a middle ground that both protects girls' and women's sport and accommodates transgender athletes."
The group wants a "carve-out [in the executive order] for elite sports ... where there will be some rules as to what is possible and what is not, that are basically only based on biology and evidence and science," Navratilova said. "We are only talking about taking a carve-out or a separate policy for elite sports or sports at the higher level of high school, college and pros."
"Martina Navratilova seeks provision to Joe Biden's executive order for transgender participation in sports" https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/30827339/martina-navratilova-seeks-provision-joe-biden-executive-order-transgender-participation-sports
Also, this ABC News report from 2018 tells the story of two transwomen who won first and second place in the Connecticut high school state championships in track: https://abcnews.go.com/US/transgender-teens-outrun-track-field-competitors-critics-close/story?id=55856294
As far as I know, this is a real story from a reputable news agency that has not been debunked.
So, I would ask that you consider this new information--and perhaps take another pass at weighing the interest of biological women in sports.
We both know that Ted Cruz is not "trying to work through the facts." Actually, he is trying to create a wedge issue without much fact. (But I will take out the adjectives and verbs that make my point to easy to attack).
: 2:54 PM << Home
