I am a transsexual. That is, I was born male and have undergone feminizing medical procedures. Earlier this year I testified before the Indiana legislature to support HB 1041, a bill that affirms the right for girls to compete in same-sex sports.
It’s tempting to characterize this issue as Republican legislators waging a culture war against a marginalized group. But the ways in which women and girls are affected by the intrusion of biological males (however they identify) into what was previously protected as a single-sex activity is fundamentally about equity and fairness.
The ACLU has weighed in, representing the alleged right of biologically male children who identify as girls to participate in girls’ sports and compete against biologically female children. Their arguments rely on twisted logic, a denial of science, and a variety of distortions and falsehoods. The three most egregious are that bills that protect girls’ sports as single-sex competitions by banning male children who identify as girls have the effect of banning those biologically male children from playing sports at all; that there should be no distinction made between children who are biologically male and children who are biologically female––that male children who identify as girls should be classified as girls; and that it is compassionate for society to support this reclassification.
Rather than reclassifying the sex of so many feminine boys and masculine girls, surely progressive change means accepting a wider range of masculinity and femininity in the gender expression of boys and men and girls and women.
Collectively participating in the gender dysphoria-induced illusion that these boys are actually girls –– and no different from their biologically female peers –– is not compassionate. It is cruel. True “gender affirming care” would be to help these children address their gender dysphoria with sensitivity, empathy, and compassion so they can come to accept the fact that they are biologically male, regardless of whether they are undergoing social or medical gender transition.
[E]very other state must enact similar bills to protect girls and women from being unable to compete in single-sex sports. If not, female athletes must be taught to smile bravely as they cede their victories to their male peers and accept that it is girls and women who must pay the price for inclusion.
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