On Tuesday, the first day of Pride Month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill known as the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.” The law prohibits transgender athletes from competing in sports that don’t correspond with the biological sex listed on their original birth certificates. It applies to both high school and college sports in the state of Florida. Controversial as this may be, it is the right move.
There is nothing so sexist as men encroaching upon a domain that is meant for women and demanding they be allowed to compete. Separating male athletes and female athletes into categories of competition and natural ability is the very definition of equality. This is exactly what a fair playing field looks like. Allowing male athletes to trespass on the territory of female athletes gives them an extremely unfair advantage. Attempting to rectify that through legislation protects female athletes from a modern brand of misogyny that society is being forced to accept.
As expected, DeSantis and those who support the bill are being painted as cruel and bigoted.
Women’s rights in the United States have undergone a complete transformation since the founding of our country. Now, women fully enjoy voting, property, and employment rights that women in past generations did not. This much-needed evolution is to be commended. But these freedoms, appropriately applied, should not give way to a flood of privileges based on feelings rather than facts. If anything, allowing transgender athletes to co-opt the experiences of female athletes in an attempt to best them at their own game is an affront to the inherent worth of women. The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act is all about fair play, which is impossible to achieve if favoritism is shown to a select few.
To be clear, treating transgender athletes as worth less than athletes who identify with their biological sex is wrong. But this legislation does not do that. Transgender athletes are not barred from competing in athletic competitions. Instead, their biological sex, still an undeniable and overriding component no matter how they individually identify, is logically paired with those who are similar in strength, speed, and ability. This is in no way discriminatory. In fact, the argument can easily be made that doing anything else is unjust to all those who gather on an athletic field.
There is nothing cruel about making sure athletes only compete against those with the same characteristics. Men and women have equal worth. At the same time, male athletes and female athletes possess different skills, abilities, strengths, and talents based on the natural, physical components of biological sex. Opponents of the new bill are the ones who reject science and instead engage in political posturing. Doing the latter does not help our youth, transgender or otherwise.
The decision to sign this protective act is one that should be applauded. DeSantis is standing firm against a growing onslaught that minimizes the worth of women. Allowing transgender athletes with obvious physical advantages to compete automatically relegates female athletes to the sidelines. Demanding the bare minimum, that of separation based on biological sex, is a protection for the majority, not a punishment of a small minority.
Increasingly, female athletes such as Chelsea Mitchell of Connecticut are told they must bend to the whims of those who place feelings over facts. DeSantis is helping those who have little recourse to fight back against similarly unfair and downright sexist treatment. Other state legislatures and executives should follow suit.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a columnist at Arc Digital.
