Protection for one and all
The ISU women’s basketball team listens to the national anthem at the Big 12 women’s basketball championship game, Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, MO, Mar. 12, 2023.
May 3, 2023
When Title IX was first enacted, it allowed hundreds of thousands of women to participate in sports without discrimination based on sex. The amendment that the Department of Education proposes would extend these protections to trans athletes. While some believe this would flood women’s sports with trans athletes, there is evidence to support the contrary.
According to the Williams Institute, as of 2020, there are 149,750 trans youths between the ages of 13-17 living in the U.S. If all of them were trans women and played sports, they would only make up 4.4% of female high school athletes. That’s less than half the number of left-handed Americans. While the number is small, it would be a terrible mistake to deprive trans athletes of these opportunities.
If Title IX isn’t allowed to encompass the Trans Community, then the level playing field we all want for athletes will not only never be achieved but also made worse. A prime example of this is the trans wrestler Mack Beggs.
Mack Beggs is a trans man who, during high school, competed in the women’s division. He was forced to compete in this division because Texas policy deemed his gender based on his birth certificate. This caused any match he was in to become uneven, all because he was not allowed to compete with the gender he identified as.
Stories like his show how important it is that this becomes a federal matter rather than a state one. This change to Title IX would provide an equal and fair opportunity for trans athletes to compete with little discrepancy nationwide.
As an Iowan, I believe in equality, justice and fair play. It is common sense that the best way to achieve these ideals is to let people be who they are. Thankfully, Biden and his administration are making positive changes that will aid trans athletes despite those across the aisle who disagree.
A day will come when we can accept people as they are. But until then, trans athletes won’t have to try to get through a glass ceiling to compete, but an iron gate.
[email protected] | Jun 12, 2023 at 3:40 am
According to the Williams Institute, as of 2020, there are 149,750 trans youths between the ages of 13-17 living in the U.S. If all of them were trans women and played sports, they would only make up 4.4% of female high school athletes. That’s less than half the number of left-handed Americans. While the number is small, it would be a terrible mistake to deprive trans athletes of these opportunities.
David Jackson | May 3, 2023 at 7:27 pm
“A day will come when we can accept people as they are.”
Who someone is, is a matter of objective fact, not a personal belief. People are genetically male or female, and there can be disorders or birth defects that complicate that, but they do not dispute that fact. Moreover, people will not get the care they need if ideology dictates medical and psychiatric care instead of objective fact.
Nothing in your opinion here even mentioned biological reality, but instead relied on appeal to emotion alone. That’s become the standard for the political left, and it wont result in anything good for society.
Lucas | May 4, 2023 at 2:17 pm
“Moreover, people will not get the care they need if ideology dictates medical and psychiatric care instead of objective fact.”
This is the correct take, dismissing objective fact will only lead to worse outcomes. Unfortunately, many of the activists openly reject an objective reality about gender which will only cause more problems.
It should be a protected female division where only females can compete in order to preserve fairness given the evidence that even after years of HRT trans women still maintain a biological advantage. And an open division where anyone can compete. It is unfortunate for many people, but it is also the just thing to do.
David Jackson | Jun 5, 2023 at 6:38 pm
The percentage of the population that is actually trans, that is biologically speaking, not woke political-ideologically speaking. is so exceedingly low, and even further those people generally are attempting to stay out of the public eye, that this isn’t even a real issue. It’s a political issue, chanted into the public discourse by people intellectually incapable of participating in any real accomplishments for society, and are so desperate to sound good to their peers for :doing something” they’re easy to stampede by nefarious political actors using emotional rhetoric.
Your proposal for an open division would work in theory, but would likely be so underutilized almost everywhere the only places it would get participation levels that could sustain it are population centers with densities in the tens of millions.