Glenn, I'm commenting here as a lifelong hardcore leftist, supporter of gay and lesbian rights, fan of women's sports, decades-long season ticket holder for UW Women's Hoops all the way from the Chris Gobrecht days of ferocious defense and atrocious offense, to the the glory years, including a Final Four.
I find it difficult to believe, at this late date, that you are still denying that Imane Khelif and Caster Semenya are males, with male-specific DSD's. Khelif was tested at two different boxing tournaments, by two different certified labs. Those tests came back showing male chromosomes. The Olympic Committee was notified of this well in advance, and did nothing. The recent IOC policy change (requiring genetic testing, by means of a simple cheek swab) means this will not happen again. https://strongerwomen.substack.com/p/on-xy-high-testosterone-boxers-and
You spent a good part of your career building a site devoted to girl's hoops. You clearly are a supporter of girl's and women's sports. But you are dodging the question of how to maintain and protect what must be a FEMALE category in sports. You must be aware that the IOC, World Athletics, and Women's Tennis have all now adopted policies requiring genetic testing for all competitors in the female category. All the smoke around the WNBA (and in girls sports here in WA) would vanish in an instant if the leagues would adopt the same policy. There would be no questions or rumors about any players. There'd also be no men punching women in the head on the way to stealing gold medals in the Olympics, or boys like AB Hernandez in California sweeping all the jumping events in the State track and field championships. All the girls championships, that is. We have a similar situation in WA. The NCAA needs to clarify its policies too, so we don't have another Lia Thomas travesty. He was a mediocrity in several years competing in the male category, yet somehow won championships just by declaring himself a woman. Same biology, same body, just tweaked his "identity." The result was to deny advancement and medals to women who'd devoted their lives training and competing. Did you think this was fair to the women? Or did you only care about the feelings of this man?
The Supreme Court recently ruled, on a 9-0 vote, that Title IX language prohibiting discrimination "on the basis of sex," means SEX. That's a biological term, with a clear scientific meaning. It's not an identity, a belief, or a costume. Rag on Matt Calkins all you want for using "biological boy," but the only reason he was wrong to use the term is that it's redundant. A boy, in the context of his column (discussing the matter of boys competing in the girls category here in Washington interscholastic sports), is an adolescent human MALE. I won't get down on him for being redundant, however, because your column here shows the massive confusion sown by gender identity ideology, amplified by the AP and Seattle Times style guides that refuse to clarify to readers that the issue is of males in female sport.
It's not a matter of trans athletes, either. Quinn, who played soccer for the Seattle Reign and the Canadian National WOMEN'S Team, declares a trans identity. No issue whatsoever: Quinn is female, competing in the female category. Same with Nikki Hiltz, the 800-meter runner who represented the US in the most recent Olympics. Nikki can't wait for her career to be over, at which point Nikki plans to start on testosterone and have a double mastectomy (of perfectly healthy breasts), but in the meantime, Nikki races in the female category. No problem. Layshia Clarendon played in the WNBA for 11 years, before surgeries and testosterone as part of a desire to present as a man. So long as Layshia wasn't using testosterone during playing years - which would be a doping violation - no problem. Layshia is female, competing in the female category.
The Seattle Times (and the No Hate in WA State campaign) always portray this as banning "transgender athletes from participating." No. It's a ban on MALE athletes competing against FEMALE athletes in the category that was/is for FEMALES. It is up to other boys and men, school administrators, and sports leagues, to make space for boys and men identifying as something other than boys and men - in the MALE category. Girls and women are not defective men. We should not be encouraging boys, especially, to diminish their physical abilities by taking wrong-sex hormones, or undergoing surgeries, to somehow "qualify" into the female category. These do not eliminate male physical advantage, but they do interfere with physical and cognitive development, irreversibly.
Either you support girls and women having fair competition, privacy from males in the locker rooms and in travel arrangements, or you don't. Bodies compete in sports, not identities or religious beliefs. Matt Calkins at least was willing to touch this "third rail" of political discourse. The Seattle Times beclowned itself not just by spiking his column, but by then publishing Naomi Ishisaka's column only a few days later on inequities in women's sports, a column that totally ignored the elephant in the room! There is no greater inequity in women's sports than allowing males to compete in the category. 27 States already define girls' sports as female only. It's long past time for Washington to join them.
I'll leave the last word to tennis great and lesbian icon Martina Navratilova, writing a guest column on the Stronger Women Substack (written by a former Stanford and pro women's basketball player.)
Glenn, I'm commenting here as a lifelong hardcore leftist, supporter of gay and lesbian rights, fan of women's sports, decades-long season ticket holder for UW Women's Hoops all the way from the Chris Gobrecht days of ferocious defense and atrocious offense, to the the glory years, including a Final Four.
I find it difficult to believe, at this late date, that you are still denying that Imane Khelif and Caster Semenya are males, with male-specific DSD's. Khelif was tested at two different boxing tournaments, by two different certified labs. Those tests came back showing male chromosomes. The Olympic Committee was notified of this well in advance, and did nothing. The recent IOC policy change (requiring genetic testing, by means of a simple cheek swab) means this will not happen again. https://strongerwomen.substack.com/p/on-xy-high-testosterone-boxers-and
You spent a good part of your career building a site devoted to girl's hoops. You clearly are a supporter of girl's and women's sports. But you are dodging the question of how to maintain and protect what must be a FEMALE category in sports. You must be aware that the IOC, World Athletics, and Women's Tennis have all now adopted policies requiring genetic testing for all competitors in the female category. All the smoke around the WNBA (and in girls sports here in WA) would vanish in an instant if the leagues would adopt the same policy. There would be no questions or rumors about any players. There'd also be no men punching women in the head on the way to stealing gold medals in the Olympics, or boys like AB Hernandez in California sweeping all the jumping events in the State track and field championships. All the girls championships, that is. We have a similar situation in WA. The NCAA needs to clarify its policies too, so we don't have another Lia Thomas travesty. He was a mediocrity in several years competing in the male category, yet somehow won championships just by declaring himself a woman. Same biology, same body, just tweaked his "identity." The result was to deny advancement and medals to women who'd devoted their lives training and competing. Did you think this was fair to the women? Or did you only care about the feelings of this man?
The Supreme Court recently ruled, on a 9-0 vote, that Title IX language prohibiting discrimination "on the basis of sex," means SEX. That's a biological term, with a clear scientific meaning. It's not an identity, a belief, or a costume. Rag on Matt Calkins all you want for using "biological boy," but the only reason he was wrong to use the term is that it's redundant. A boy, in the context of his column (discussing the matter of boys competing in the girls category here in Washington interscholastic sports), is an adolescent human MALE. I won't get down on him for being redundant, however, because your column here shows the massive confusion sown by gender identity ideology, amplified by the AP and Seattle Times style guides that refuse to clarify to readers that the issue is of males in female sport.
It's not a matter of trans athletes, either. Quinn, who played soccer for the Seattle Reign and the Canadian National WOMEN'S Team, declares a trans identity. No issue whatsoever: Quinn is female, competing in the female category. Same with Nikki Hiltz, the 800-meter runner who represented the US in the most recent Olympics. Nikki can't wait for her career to be over, at which point Nikki plans to start on testosterone and have a double mastectomy (of perfectly healthy breasts), but in the meantime, Nikki races in the female category. No problem. Layshia Clarendon played in the WNBA for 11 years, before surgeries and testosterone as part of a desire to present as a man. So long as Layshia wasn't using testosterone during playing years - which would be a doping violation - no problem. Layshia is female, competing in the female category.
The Seattle Times (and the No Hate in WA State campaign) always portray this as banning "transgender athletes from participating." No. It's a ban on MALE athletes competing against FEMALE athletes in the category that was/is for FEMALES. It is up to other boys and men, school administrators, and sports leagues, to make space for boys and men identifying as something other than boys and men - in the MALE category. Girls and women are not defective men. We should not be encouraging boys, especially, to diminish their physical abilities by taking wrong-sex hormones, or undergoing surgeries, to somehow "qualify" into the female category. These do not eliminate male physical advantage, but they do interfere with physical and cognitive development, irreversibly.
Either you support girls and women having fair competition, privacy from males in the locker rooms and in travel arrangements, or you don't. Bodies compete in sports, not identities or religious beliefs. Matt Calkins at least was willing to touch this "third rail" of political discourse. The Seattle Times beclowned itself not just by spiking his column, but by then publishing Naomi Ishisaka's column only a few days later on inequities in women's sports, a column that totally ignored the elephant in the room! There is no greater inequity in women's sports than allowing males to compete in the category. 27 States already define girls' sports as female only. It's long past time for Washington to join them.
I'll leave the last word to tennis great and lesbian icon Martina Navratilova, writing a guest column on the Stronger Women Substack (written by a former Stanford and pro women's basketball player.)
https://strongerwomen.substack.com/p/guest-column-by-martina-navratilova
You make some good points, but how is a cheek swab supposed to decipher how an athlete identifies?
Thanks for this, Glenn. Very thoughtful!
Thanks, Walter!