It should not be controversial to say biological men who enjoy a significant physical advantage over women should not be allowed to compete against them in athletic events. But for a number of so-called conservatives, it is.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox became the latest Republican to cave to the radical gender lobby last week when he announced he would veto a bill banning transgender-identified males from competing in K-12 girls sports.
The Preserving Sports for Female Students bill, which passed the state Legislature, would have upheld the biological definition of sex as “an individual’s genetics and anatomy at birth” and prohibited “a student of the male sex from participating in an athletic activity designated for female students.” It would also require educational institutions to “designate athletic activities by sex.”
In other words, the bill would have made sure male and female students competing on their respective teams are granted a level playing field against their peers.
Like most legislation, however, this bill could be better. For example, it could have allowed schools to create an additional mixed team or sport in which both males and females could voluntarily participate instead of restricting sports teams to male-only and female-only. And it should have extended past K-12 education to include college-level competitive sports, where men’s physical advantages are the most damaging to women. Indeed, there’s an argument to be made that protecting the integrity of upper-level sports in high school and college should be the singular focus of these bills.
However, Cox made it quite clear his problem with the bill wasn’t its lack of nuance but with its stated goal: banning transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.
“They’re awesome kids, and they’re not out there breaking any records,” Cox said of transgender athletes. “I just want that community to know, look, we care about you, we love you, it’s going to be OK. We’re going to get through this together.”
This explanation from Cox is pitiful. Transgender athletes are, in fact, breaking women’s records — perhaps not in Utah, but certainly in other parts of the country. Cox would know this if he’d bothered to speak with any of the young female athletes who have been directly affected by pro-transgender policies. Take, for example, Selina Soule, a former Connecticut high school athlete who missed her shot at qualifying for the state’s Indoor Track & Field State Championships finals because she could not beat the male-bodied transgender athlete competing against her.
And what about the University of Pennsylvania’s female swimmers, who have been forced this past season to compete against Lia Thomas, a male-bodied transgender swimmer, despite the fact he competed as a male for several years before deciding to transition? Thomas went from ranking #462 as a male to #1 as a female and stands to break multiple records at the national level as a result.
Moreover, there are concerns outside of competition itself that lend their support to bills such as the Preserving Sports for Female Students Act. The biggest concern is for the safety of female students, who are expected to allow male-bodied students inside their locker rooms if those students are a part of their team. At the University of Pennsylvania, for instance, Thomas regularly exposes his female teammates to his male genitalia, his teammates alleged, which has made them feel extremely uncomfortable in a space that is supposed to protect their privacy. Does Cox expect Utah’s young female athletes to put up with a similar invasion of privacy?
The contents of pro-women’s sports legislation and how to best preserve equal access to competition are certainly up for debate. But the fundamental principle of these bills, the belief that women’s sports and female athletes deserve protection, must never be compromised. By refusing even to consider Utah’s bill, Cox betrayed this principle and proved he cannot be trusted to defend women’s rights against the radical gender ideology that would undermine them.
His decision is disappointing. For the sake of Utah’s young women, he should reconsider it.
Kaylee McGhee White is the deputy editor of Restoring America for the Washington Examiner and a visiting fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.
