Utah’s Debate over Transgender Athletes
– By Howard Sierer –
Woke progressives in Utah and around the country have started another culture war battle, this time arguing that transgenders born as males should be allowed to compete against – and dominate – biological female athletes. Once again, woke progressives adopt a newly-discovered and radical position and then blame social conservatives for starting the battle.
In this year’s legislative session, Utah state Rep. Kera Birkeland proposed HB11 to allow high school transgender athletes to train with female teams but prohibit them from participating in interscholastic competitions. Birkeland, a girls’ JV basketball coach at Morgan High School, points out that biological factors give trans-athletes an unfair advantage over their biological female peers.
Birkeland says her bill is intended to enforce federal Title IX provisions and to protect girls’ ability to thrive in student athletics. Utah Senate President Stuart Adams agrees, saying in a statement, “Doing nothing is taking a step backward for women. Finding a solution to this complicated issue is necessary to maintain fair competition now and in the future.”
Gov. Cox vetoed the bill, referencing its potential effects on transgender youth. “I struggle to understand so much of it and the science is conflicting. When in doubt, however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion.”
I applaud the legislature for overriding the governor’s veto. Contrary to the governor’s statement, the science is not conflicting and competitive outcomes are clear. And for whom is the governor’s “kindness, mercy and compassion” being extended? Certainly not to the biological females whose thousands of hours of training are overshadowed by transgender domination of their sports.
Gov. Cox, take a look at the science and the outcomes.
Post-pubescent biological males have undergone physical changes that cannot be undone with testosterone suppressants or even surgery. The International Women’s Forum reports that there are more than 3,000 genes that contribute to muscle differences between human males and females.
Professor and former athlete Doriane Coleman explains: “Compared to females, males have greater lean body mass (more skeletal muscle and less fat), larger hearts (both in absolute terms and scaled to lean body mass), higher cardiac outputs, larger hemoglobin mass, larger VO2 max (i.e. a person’s ability to take in oxygen), greater glycogen utilization and higher anaerobic capacity.”
Competitive results illustrate Professor Coleman’s science. Olympic champion Nancy Hogshead-Makar shows how even with testosterone mitigation therapy, post-pubescent males have overwhelming physical advantages over biological females. She explains that “the average differential in the men’s and women’s ‘A’ standard times for NCAA championship qualification is 11.41%; meaning the women’s times are 11%+ slower than the men’s qualification times.”
Hogshead-Makar notes that recently-crowned NCAA 500-yard freestyle swimming champion, transgender Lia (née William) Thomas, had been taking testosterone mitigation drugs for 2½ years, yet Thomas “is not 11% slower, she is only 2.6% slower than she was pre-transition in the 200-yard freestyle, and just 5.76% slower in the 500-yard freestyle. That is NOT mitigation. It is NOT fair.”
Thomas isn’t alone: transgenders born males are dominating competitions against biological women in various sports around the world.
Denying these facts is arguing against both the science and the data, something progressives routinely and often falsely accuse conservatives of doing. But science-be-damned when it runs counter to their latest progressive social fad.
The reliably-liberal Washington Post embarrassed itself by calling the transgender ban “a terrible way to deal with differences.” I ask whether the Post thinks separate men’s and women’s athletics in general are “a terrible way to deal with differences.” If not, why not?
Are Utah high school athletic divisions based on school size a “terrible way to deal with differences” or a common-sense way to provide equitable, balanced competition? Should a 182-pound high school wrestler with an eating disorder who “sincerely” sees himself as belonging in the 170-pound weight class be allowed to compete at that weight?
Southern Utah University’s Haley Tanne competes against transgender athletes: “Whatever the biological male athlete’s mental and emotional self-image, physically he’s a guy—a guy my teammates and I are running against, and losing to, in women’s athletics. This is hard because, not only are women being pushed out of their own sport, but past generations of women worked so hard to get us where we are… My teammates and I are watching our records, our scholarships and our competitive opportunities slip away.”
Count me as one of the 67% of Americans who oppose transgenders competing in women’s sports. I’m pleased to support the civil rights of female athletes at all levels of competition and to be a Utah citizen whose state is likewise committed to women’s sports.
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