Roy Exum
There is a comical story floating the Internet that suggests if only Present Donald Trump would declare he is transgender, he could be our nation’s first woman president. That would make Melania our First Lady a lesbian and, let’s admit it, being accused of being a transsexual is about all that’s left that our nation’s president hasn’t been accused of.
Before you, too, wonder where idiocy of this grandeur comes from, walk with me into our House of Representatives chamber and peek at a proposed “Equity Bill” that is being taken very seriously. It already has 240 sponsors, all but one including every Democrat in Congress and, among its provisions is what is suddenly the biggest shocker of the year. If the bill passes, the bill would force public schools to expand female athletic teams to include biological males who identify as transgender athletes.
The bill is not expected to survive in the Republican-led Senate, but if it does, any fool can see it would mark an end to female athletics as we know it. There are now 16 state athletic agencies who allow transsexual athletes to compete, but it is believed not one of the high school athletic associations has the hormone diagnostics to make a measured decision. (one new study found that even if a biological male takes hormones, surgically alters his body, and identifies as “female,” the procedures still won’t make him a woman. That’s because there are at least 6,500 genes that contain sex-specific instructions for males and females.)
Much to my disbelief this ludicrous reasoning has already happened. At the Connecticut State Indoor Track championship in late February, Terry Miller of Bloomfield High set a state indoor record with a time of 6.95 in the 55-meter dash. Andraya Yearwood was second with a 7.01 time for Cromwell High. Both place-winners were identified as males at birth but now claim they instead are transsexual. The third-place finisher, who is not transsexual, had a time of 7.23. And, as if it matters, Yearwood is a 15-year-old and already has a moustache.
A Runner’s World study several years ago proved “at every distance up to the marathon, the gap between men’s and women’s world record times is nine to 10 percent – and it’s similar or even higher percentage among recreational runners.”
Again, every Democrat in Congress save one, as well as the party’s representatives from Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, is co-sponsoring the “Equity Bill” but I don’t think it is fair – not at all. I don’t think it is fair for a 14-year-old girl or Nancy Pelosi herself to need a public restroom and then legally be subjected to some unknown male watching her. Too often laws are made for the minority instead of the majorities in our country and now what should be an unfathomable trip into The Twilight Zone is a daily embarrassment.
I believe the overwhelming numbers of Americans want this country to treat everybody fairly but they also believe that common sense and decency should be huge factors in the proper and humane construction of our laws. I feel quite confident that there are some liberals and Democrats who feel just as strongly in decency as any conservatives or Republicans.
What I cannot believe is “every Democrat but one” believes it is anyone's best interest for boys to play on girls teams or visa-versa. In the case of gays, bisexuals, transsexuals and those who embrace the fact they differ from whatever their definition of the norm may be, I would create “a majority rule.” This would be where the athletes would vote and create the parameters of competition acceptable by the public.
No single person is smart enough, nor wise enough, to look inside any athlete’s “gas tank” or determine how any of us are wired. Yet when the St. Joe’s wrestling team arrives to fight Frederick High, just because St. Joe’s allows female wrestlers does not give the visitors the human right to force a Frederick’s wrestler – to be blunt – in a man-handling situation with a member of the opposite sex.
No American citizen should have the right to foist their personal prejudices on another, and in athletics, that can get tricky in a hurry. Brendan Johnston, a senior at Academic High in Colorado Springs, is one of the best wrestlers in the state. This year he won 46 matches while losing six … but five of those losses were actually forfeited because he refused, on moral and ethical grounds, to compete against a girl.
“There is something that I really do find problematic about the idea of wrestling with a girl, and a part of that does come from my faith and my belief,” said Johnston, who identifies as Christian, “And a part of that does come from how I was raised to treat women as well as maybe from different experiences and things.”
He continued. “I’m not really comfortable with a couple of things with wrestling a girl. I don’t want to treat a young lady like that on the mat. Or off the mat. And not to disrespect the heart or the effort that she’s put in.”
Some believe Johnston’s strong beliefs cost him the state title. “Wrestling is something we do, it’s not what we are,” Johnston told the Denver Post. “And there are more important things to me than my wrestling. And I’m willing to have those priorities.”
Why shouldn’t our Congress have the same priorities, not to mention the same sensibilities in our respect of one another?
royexum@aol.com