That’s been the unfortunate and misleading take applied by any number of careless writers, editors, pundits and TV talking heads, among others. Too often, they have promoted the notion, whether directly or more subtly, that men who identify as women are simply barred from competition — any competition, all competition — in the Olympic Games. Period. End of discussion.
This is seen as, somehow, a miscarriage of gender choice, a denial of individual rights, a blatant lack of basic fairness. But that is utterly simplistic and patently false. Those transgender individuals are more than welcome to compete within their own biological classification — in other words, against men. There are no legal or societal barriers for them in that regard.
That assumes, of course, that they are able to qualify against their male counterparts in the high-stakes crucible of top-tier international sports. That is not always the case.
Some, if not most, of these folks cannot make the cut versus their fellow biological men. But, until now, they have been able to switch over to the female side.
Ironically, this tends to validate a key premise of those opposed to transgender athletes competing against actual women: Even the men who would fail against their own male peers — often badly — are typically bigger, stronger and faster than women.
The IOC emphasized much the same view as it stated that males have “performance advantages in sports and events that rely on strength, power and/or endurance.” The differences are clear and unambiguous. Biology has the final say, as always.
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The IOC, the latest sports governing body to rule on this divisive matter, made the correct and sane call, whether influenced by current U.S. federal policy officials or not. Regardless, it was high time. Past time, really.
We have to wonder when more sports governing entities, especially the California Interscholastic Federation, which is our state’s prep athletics authority, will see the light in this regard.
Of course, that is contingent on the state’s legislature and governor making such a call in the first place. And, thus far, that has not occurred. We can only hope.
CRONE DRONE A NEW FLIGHT AID: This little bastion of Peninsula sanity aims to inform and stimulate. It’s what we try to do each week — and not always successfully. On a somewhat regular basis, a helpful reader will provide a tip, a suggestion, a cautionary note. One helpful correspondent — let’s call him “Belmont Bruce” — has provided a bit of fresh perspective on an old trope. He has alleged that the myth that worrisome witches ride brooms is quite passe. According to him, drones are their new mode of aerial transportation. He dubs the conveyance a “crone drone.” Oh, behave.
HERE COMES THE CIRCUS: California has been described as a Left Coast haven for the unmoored, the rootless and others searching for and undefinable “something.” It is all of that and more. It is also a veritable circus when it comes to primary elections. Candidates emerge from the woodwork to toss their hats in the ring regardless of experience or even a shred of verifiable credibility. The June 2 primary is no exception. The hefty voter guide that began to arrive in mailboxes last week included no fewer than 62 individuals allegedly running for governor. Among them: Barack D. Obama Shaw, Thunder Parley and Living for God and Country DeMott. Lord help us.
A RECKONING IS SURELY COMING: There’s no getting around it. We are spending ourselves into a very dark and worrisome financial corner. Sometime quite soon, it is estimated that our national debt will hit the $40 trillion mark, a stunning figure that is hard to grasp and seems almost beyond belief. Annual interest on our nonstop, accumulated borrowing has already reached $1 trillion, exceeding the nation’s entire military budget. At some point, something has to give. Our national credit card’s fiscal reckoning is coming. The question is: When?
John Horgan began writing a neighborhood diary at the tender age of 9 in San Mateo. He’s been doing much the same thing as a Peninsula journalist for decades ever since. You can contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.
Thank you John for again being the sole voice of reason at the DJ on this important issue! I will add something else that the media coverage is very misinformed about: in the Olympics the bigger concern than "trans" is males with Disorders of Sexual Development (DSDs) competing in the women's category. South African runner Caster Semenya and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif are two of many examples. Semenya (and almost certainly Khelif) has 5-ARD, a condition present only in males where they may have female looking genitalia at birth but internal testicles that produce male level testosterone at puberty. Semenya is on record admitting to having testicles, yet media continues to call him an "intersex woman" rather than a "man with a DSD mistakenly identified as female at birth." These conditions are more common in developing countries where scouts actually go to villages to find these boys to have them compete as girls in various sports. Women's soccer has a huge problem with this as the NWSL does not test for sex. Will be interesting to see which players are suddenly injured and unable to compete for their country in 2028.
As for the CIF, the problem is still going on. AB Hernandez, a young man, recently won 3 girls state track and field events at a prestigious meet, displacing the girls who worked hard at their sport. At the state championship will CIF enact the same ridiculous "pilot program" they did last year where AB and the actual girl who won share the first place spot? (Thereby acknowledging that Mr. Hernandez is really not "just like all the other girls".) With extreme Trans Rights Activists like Steve Sell (who thinks boys/men like AB are "very brave") on the CIF executive board, we can't expect them to do the right thing for our high school girl athletes sadly.
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Thank you John for again being the sole voice of reason at the DJ on this important issue! I will add something else that the media coverage is very misinformed about: in the Olympics the bigger concern than "trans" is males with Disorders of Sexual Development (DSDs) competing in the women's category. South African runner Caster Semenya and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif are two of many examples. Semenya (and almost certainly Khelif) has 5-ARD, a condition present only in males where they may have female looking genitalia at birth but internal testicles that produce male level testosterone at puberty. Semenya is on record admitting to having testicles, yet media continues to call him an "intersex woman" rather than a "man with a DSD mistakenly identified as female at birth." These conditions are more common in developing countries where scouts actually go to villages to find these boys to have them compete as girls in various sports. Women's soccer has a huge problem with this as the NWSL does not test for sex. Will be interesting to see which players are suddenly injured and unable to compete for their country in 2028.
As for the CIF, the problem is still going on. AB Hernandez, a young man, recently won 3 girls state track and field events at a prestigious meet, displacing the girls who worked hard at their sport. At the state championship will CIF enact the same ridiculous "pilot program" they did last year where AB and the actual girl who won share the first place spot? (Thereby acknowledging that Mr. Hernandez is really not "just like all the other girls".) With extreme Trans Rights Activists like Steve Sell (who thinks boys/men like AB are "very brave") on the CIF executive board, we can't expect them to do the right thing for our high school girl athletes sadly.
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PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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