When sports turn to politics.....

[Ralph Damren]

I'm proud to be a Mainer  . I'm not proud of our governor 

SCENE: State Indoor Track Championship. Last year a 'kid' (I didn't want to use an improper pronoun) finished 5th in the BOY's pole vault. This year the same kid won the gold  in the GIRL's pole vault , beating the runnerup by 6 inches. Many Mainers recalled our president issued a Exec. Order outlawing such. Many Mainers also recalled that in mere moments after the EO the NCAA fully agreed.

ACT I : Word spread quickly to D.C. of the 'kid's' gold medal. Maine's Gov. Mills (who I didn't vote for) stood firm on the belief that a kid can decide if he's a boy or girl .

ACT II : Our governor attended the National Governor's Confrence in D.C. President Trump (who I did vote for) spoke to them.

ACT III : A showdown began (on national news). Ending with pres threating to withhold federal funds  while gov said she would take him to court  .

EPILOGUE :  It is estimated that 85%+ of we Mainers agree with President Trump on this. Our U.S. Congressman, Jarett Golden (D), a former Marine,- who I voted for- said :" Choose carefully the hill you wish to die on ." What say you guys....

 

[ElvisLives]

To allow genetic males to compete as females is simply wrong on all levels. All the hormones on the planet can't change genetics, and a person born as a genetic male simply has a body equipped for greater physical accomplishments than genetic females. Certainly, many genetic females can out-perform many genetic males. But no genetic female can outperform highly trained genetic males. The handful of genetic females that have attempted to complete with/against genetic males at the highest levels of athletic sports have had no success. How many genetic females are players in the NFL? MLB? NBA? NHL? MLS? PGA? On and on. Those organizations do not prevent females from attempting to compete. They are welcome to try. But, they just can't compete at that level.
There have been some genetic females that have had limited success at traditionally male sports in collegiate organizations. But they represent a fraction of a fraction of 1% of all athletes playing athletic sports.
This is not to say that women's sports are not exciting and enjoyable. Quite the contrary. Female basketball, in particular, can be very exciting. But, even the best WNBA players couldn't make an NBA roster.  Same for any other professional athletic sport. If I recall, some time back, an under-15 Boys soccer team beat the US national women's team during the women's team workup to the World Cups.
For professional sports, if the WNBA, etc., wants to allow genetic males to compete in their leagues, go for it. They know what they are getting into. But, collegiate and lower levels of sports must keep the sexes separated.

[ilyazhito]

I agree. People who were born male have an advantage over people who were born female, because the former males will have a male musculoskeletal system. This will provide them with an unfair biological advantage when competing with biological females. Players were actually injured by Blaire (Brayden) Fleming's spikes, because they were MUCH harder than hits from other female volleyball players. Lia Thomas had an unfair advantage over female swimmers, because she was taller than many of them and had more powerful arm and leg muscles than them due to growing up as a boy and later a man.

 For safety reasons alone, former males should not compete directly against women in a women's division. They should be in an open/co-ed category with current men and women, where there is either a lower safety risk (non-contact sports), or ALL participants are informed of the risks and have taken appropriate precautions. This is not to mention the Title IX requirements that both men and women should have access to educational opportunities, including sports. If trans people (people born male who became female and people born female who became male) will want access to sports under Title IX, we will need to accommodate them by creating a 3rd category, which would in some cases involve cuts to the other parts of the male and female athletic programs.

[Ralph Damren]

Your posts remind me of a war story told by an adimistrator  from Vermont several years ago at our NFHS Rules Committee meeting. This occurred at their state field hockey meeting.....

SCENE : One school had a foreign exchange student (boy) that was an avid field hockey player.

ACT I : His coach announced that a boy would be playing on their field hockey team. 

ACT II : The above mentioned admistrator responded, " That's fine, although your team would need to compete in the 'coed league'" 

ACT III : Coach, " But we don't have one  "

ACT IV : Admistrator, " We would now, and your team being the only one, would win the state championship  . Where less than 20% of the schools have such a team, you would need to pay for said trophy  .

ACT V : The coach sat down and the boy played football (and was quite good  ).

EPILOGUE : Maine's defination of gender can be determined by the student's declaratin  .  The gov.'s supporters are attacking the state senator (R) who brought this to light. 'Shooting the messenger' reminds me of Linda Tripp's bringing attention of the presidental stain  on Monica's party dress.

                                                                                                            STAY TUNED 

[dammitbobby]

From what I have seen/heard/read, for many (including me) the issue isn't whether or not the student should or should not compete in girls' competition ( I believe they shouldn't), but that the legislator essentially doxxed the student, opening them up for public vitriol and threats.

Boy or girl, gay/straight/trans/whatever, no child deserves to get hatemail and threats, for any reason, and I am critical of those who enable that against a kid. 

[GoodScout]

I find the trans debate much more complicated than either side admits. It's a complicated issue that attracts simplistic thinking on both sides of the debate.

Without delving into it and my views on it, let me say I'm VERY proud of your governor.

I've dealt with bullies. I've dealt with them as a schoolchild. I've dealt with them in the business world. I've dealt with them on the football field.

The only way to deal with them is to confront them. And while all the males in the Senate and Congress seem to cowardly to do so, your lady governor has balls.

[TampaSteve]

I've always sided with the world IOC bylaws which came about in +/-2021 when we started to see some of these issues arise (and if I'm not mistaken, the NCAA adopted them recently too). In general, it states:
"If you don't begin hormone therapy before you begin puberty then you are what you are whatever your chromosomes dictate, be it XX or XY"
(and virtually no one gets hormone therapy before puberty)

As a sidebar, what I find interesting is women sports wanting equality, etc, yet some women sports play a "lesser game".
*for track (swimming too) - M & F each run the same distances (i.e. 100, 200, etc.), yet with W ncaa cross country they run a shorter distance v M. (bizarre to me)
*women don't have a decathlon
*men and women both play 90min soccer games,  - yet WNBA which is perhaps the most vocal about equality plays a shorter game (48min v 40)
*women softball is 7 inn. (v 9 inn for bb)

[ElvisLives]

There is no rational argument related to ‘equity’ in sports. While I believe it applies to non-professional sports as well, using professional that are male dominated, e.g., NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and probably all others, as the standard, they DO NOT PROHIBIT FEMALES from playing. There have been the odd tiny handful of women that managed to make it onto professional teams, but I can’t think of the names of any of them, and I don’t know of any that made any significant contribution to their teams, or those sports. Women are simply not physically equipped to compete with men in athletic sports that require size, strength, speed, agility, and stamina.
That being the case, there are “women’s” sports, so they can have a level playing field to put their skills on show. To allow biological males to participate in those women’s sports un-levels the playing field, and robs the women of their ability have their best performances be recognized as excellence in their arenas.
And that’s just wrong, on all accounts.

[dammitbobby]

Elvis, the only one one who I can think of, who probably could have held her own against men playing professionally (in her time), would be Babe  Zaharias, in both golf and track, and probably baseball as well.

[ElvisLives]

Elvis, the only one one who I can think of, who probably could have held her own against men playing professionally (in her time), would be Babe  Zaharias, in both golf and track, and probably baseball as well.

No doubt Babe was one of the very best female athletes ever, especially when her accomplishments are weighted for ALL athletes of her time, as compared to athletes of today. Playing from the men’s tees, she qualified and played in 5 PGA tournaments in three different years, and made the 36 hole cuts in at least three of those tournaments, but didn’t threaten the leaders (although many top male players also failed to threaten the leaders). She was clearly the best female player at that time. She then helped found the LPGA.
So, how fair would it have been to have allowed male golfers to play in the LPGA, trans-gender or otherwise? As far as I know, there is nothing keeping females, trans-gender or otherwise, from playing in the PGA. So why don’t they? Easy answer. They can’t compete against genetic males. A trans-gender female (genetic male identifying as a woman, or medically transformed into a woman) might be able to compete. But, I don’t know of any such persons attempting to compete. If there are, they haven’t been publicized, or made any competitive impact on the game.
Would it be fair to allow trans-females (genetic males) to play in the LPGA? Absolutely not.

[Ralph Damren]

IMVHO (in my VERY humble opinion) , restricting trans-gender females (genetic males) from competing in female sports does not eliminate them from competing in male sports. The firestorm in Maine evolved from a genetic male who finished 5th in the boy's pole vault last year in the state's indoor track state championship. Competing this year as a female, she won the goal metal. The runner-ups, who had practiced hard for this event were heartbroken. While this is not a top news story nationally, it is hotly debated state wide. Any opinion that I might have is merely the grumblings of a cranky ole' duffer, but here they are.......

+ Maine's gender determation doesn't rely on hormone therapy or chromose counts , but the student can announce their requested gender. Being a fan of Law & Order/SUV, I understand that if a 19 year old had sex with a 17 year old you have saturtary rape as the 17 year old didn't have the maturity to make such a decision. Does a 17 year old have the maturity to decide their gender on a given day?

+ Yes, girls are allowed to play on boy's teams. I've seen several play football over the recent years, often as place kickers who grew up playing soccer. I don't see a problem and look at that like an 8th grader being allowed to play on a varsity team. Our basketball tourney end this weekend and two of the teams have 8th graders on them . On the flapside, allowing a big ole, bubba that graduated last year wouldn't be fair.

+ While Trump only carried 45% of Maine's voters, 80%+ have simular feelings on this issue. To quote Maine's U.S. Congressman, Jerret Golden (D) , " Choose carefully the hill you wish to die on. "

Enough ranting for one day, time to walk ma' hunting dawg  ....

PS ; REMEMBER BILLIE JEAN KING DEFEATING RENE RICHARDS