Maine may become the first state to place a Protect Girls Sports measure on the statewide ballot.
A group appropriately enough called Maine Girl Dads has been standing up on this issue and constitutes the core of a newly formed ballot question committee, Protect Girls Sports in Maine. On Election Day weeks ago, the committee launched an initiative petition that needs 68,000 registered voter signatures in order to give voters the choice to designate public school sports as male, female or co-ed.
Let every person participate. But stop allowing males to enter and dominate sports set aside for women. Or to lurk in their locker rooms.
It’s no wonder why the issue of permitting 6’4’ men transitioning to identify as women to compete against females has caused a stir — they’ve won competitions by wide margins, setting new records.
And, in several cases, the dangerous physical mismatches created have also resulted in injuries to women.
That’s not sportsmanlike, for there are very real biological differences between men and women and, in virtually every athletic activity, men have significant physical advantages: speed, quickness, strength.
Which is why there has been no issue with women transitioning to identify as men competing in men’s sports. Because they are at a distinct disadvantage and, therefore, not a factor.
Over the weekend, I traveled to Portland to hear NCAA champion swimmer Riley Gaines speak and learned that the Protect Girls Sports effort has surpassed 68,000 signatures and is now working on extra signatures to thwart any possible challenge.
“It’s time we made Maine Girl Sports safe for girls again,” says Alisha Lawson of Moms for Maine Girls, adding that the measure will be: “Common Sense. Voter Enacted.”
I’m all for it.* I’m Paul Jacob.
* To be clear, I’m actively helping this Maine campaign.
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2 replies on “A Sporting Chance”
Women transitioning to identify as men can still impact women’s sports in a negative way. I remember reading about a female wrestling team. One student was transitioning to male but she was allowed to compete against other women because her transition wasn’t complete. The hormones she was taking helped build muscle and put other women at a disadvantage. She defeated every woman who was not taking what I think is a performance enhancing drug. The male hormones were deemed ‘medically necessary’ and so she was not disqualified from competing. Even for biological women, transitioning treatments, whether surgical or medical, should be a disqualifier.
This was never an issue until Barack Obama became POTUS. No, that’s not racism, it’s called reality. PROVE ME WRONG!