The language of President Biden's executive order appears benign and reasonable: “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”
But critics say its practical effects are anything but reasonable. It allows female-to-male transgender athletes to compete against women.
"I'm a martial arts expert. I've been doing it my whole life, like, I know the difference. I've trained with women world champions and watch them get mauled by men who are not very good. It's just a fact,” said MMA commentator Joe Rogan.
Rogan says he was mobbed on Twitter by transgender rights activists for those comments. He was citing the case of now-retired transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox.
In a 2014 fight, Fox's female opponent was left in a bloody heap with a fractured skull and a concussion — an unfortunate but predictable result, he says, of the fact that transgender males retain greater muscle mass, bone density, and strength than female opponents, even after hormone treatment.
Biden’s executive order mimics a Connecticut law that allows male-to-female transgender athletes to compete in that state’s high school sports.
Christiana Holcomb of Alliance Defending Freedom said: "What the Biden administration has essentially done is taking this harmful policy in Connecticut and has nationalized it. So, unless we push back and this is declared unlawful, we really could see the beginning of the end of women’s sports in our country.”
The broader issue of defining transgender women as women has divided progressives. Last summer, Author J.K. Rowling tweeted:
“Dress however you please.
Call yourself whatever you like.
Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.
Live your best life in peace and security.
But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?"
For that, she was “canceled.” The Deseret News reported, “Publishers have seen a 'remarkably sudden and sharp drop' in sales of Harry Potter books.” Harry Potter fan websites scrubbed her name, and there was even a push to get Rowling prosecuted for a hate crime.
The Biden executive order will no doubt be challenged in court. Three female Connecticut high school athletes previously filed suit in that state. The case has yet to be decided.
