It’s a debate that shows few signs of abating. The contentious issue of allowing biological male athletes to compete with and against biological females continues and, in fact, appears to be growing in intensity, particularly here in the Golden State.

Recently, a grassroots movement gained some steam in the wake of the Democrat-dominated state legislature’s refusal to consider a ban on such behavior. The focus of the group was on the California Interscholastic Federation and its policy allowing transgender high school athletes to compete with and against teen girls.

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(21) comments

willallen

let trans compete against trans.

easygerd

This is a completely made up crisis.

The Republican man in charge of the NCAA spoke in front of congress and admitted in front of Republican congressmen that out of 510,000 student athletes fewer than 10 might be transgender and that includes females in male sports.

Let's repeat that 10 out of 510,000 leads to 0.002% - that is not a crisis.

Republican Charlie Baker - the man in charge of the NCAA - says 0.002% is not an issue.

Conservative Thomas Bach - the longtime leader of the IOC - does not see an issue. Neither does NAIA, NFL, MLB, MLS, FIFA, UEFA, X-Games, or any other professional sports league.

Several studies have shown how prevalent doping is within student athletes (10-20%).

Several surveys have shown how prevalent harassment is within student athletics (30-50%).

Therefore the two major questions that haven't been answered by these political "crisis actors" are ...

- why would any sane person go through all these treatments and surgeries to win medals, when it is so much easier to just use PED

- why would any sane male go through all these surgeries just to be able to access female locker rooms if creepy coaches, assistant coaches, administrators boosters, even water boys apparently walk just in

Basically booster "paying to play" in California locker rooms is a far bigger issue.

Terence Y

eGerd – TBot here. I see you’re still pinning your hopes on your cherry-picked NCAA statistic you insist is the only one that matters. It’s not. Your NCAA statistic undermines your position and reiterates the fact that cheating is cheating. BTW, how many biological females identifying as biological males are in the MLB, NFL, or NBA? And didn’t a bunch of teenage boys beat the US Olympic Women’s soccer team? I'd bet that even if the US Women's soccer team doped up, they still wouldn't beat teenage boys. Seems to me that attempting to justify cheating will never be a winning issue. A common sense issue.

easygerd

Willallen is correct, this is a completely made-for-Social-Media-crisis, driven by Russian chatbots.

"Dear TBot's Russian programmers. You need to update TBot's firmware. The chatbot must have been hacked by Democrats and their woke DEI virus. It's a complete made-up crisis and Tbot's AI-engine can't find data to prove otherwise. So sad."

I'm clearly the only one arguing FOR athletic fairness, FOR locker room privacy and AGAINST sexual harassment of biological and other girls.

But while Fox News is focusing on the false story of the second-rate-male-athlete transforming himself into a top-rated-female-athlete just to win a medal (whose existence is denied by the NCAA, NAIA, MLB, MLS, IOC, UEFA, FIFA, and basically every single professional sports league in the world) real advocacy groups are focusing on how the biological inferior female gets cheated and harassed by

- dopers and big pharma

- creepy coaches, assistant coaches, boosters, gamblers, water boys, even parents

- deans, principals, administrators have driven female students into suicide

- non-athletic females need to take on huge student loans to pay for the travel cost of supersized athletic programs.

With a new firmware update it should be easy to smell fake Republican DEI outrage. If Fox News loved the biological woman so much, they would support her "Right to Choose", wouldn't they.

And if the Democrats loved the biological woman so much, they would build bike lanes for her.

Terence Y

eGerd – TBot here. Your feeble attempts to conflate the issue at hand are becoming tiresome and remain ineffective. I notice you’re still unable to answer simple questions highlighting the unfairness of biological males competing against biological females. I go back to MichKosk’s observation, “It is unfortunate that you don't think girls and women deserve fairness, safety and privacy in sports and locker rooms at all levels.” Until next time, and I’m betting we’ll see the umpteenth reference to your NCAA 0.002% argument – which supports my position much more than yours. BTW, TBot’s programmers ask why anything needs to be updated – their position is steeped in facts, common sense, and fairness. Can you say the same about your position? I think not, which is more sad.

easygerd

TBot, You have yet to speak out against Doping, money cheaters, creepy coaches and cringy administrators, taking away their right to choose and lack of bike lanes. There are real studies and numbers about these real and existing problems of unfairness to biological women.

And of course solving any non-existent problem MUST be by definition end in feebleness. That is the whole point of choosing a topic that every single sports leader in the world is saying "We got it covered. There is not real problem here. It's a made-up-by-FoxTV crisis" .

Terence Y

eGerd – TBot here. My response to your request to speak out…to borrow from Hillary Clinton, “What difference at this point does it make?” Any number greater than absolute zero is cheating. On the other hand, since we know your lower acceptance limit is 0.002% of biological males competing/cheating against biological women, what are you lower/higher limit percentages of cheating/unfairness you’ll accept by dopers, money cheaters, creepy coaches, and cringy administrators? Not that it matters since cheating is cheating but I’d like to know what level of cheating you find acceptable. BTW, still waiting on answers to simple questions...

easygerd

Cheating is never acceptable. The point is cheating via PED and applying harassment is prevalent, while the transgender thing is a made-up crisis propagated by Russian misinformation and fostered by FoxTV, Twitter, and many other left and right-wing media outlets.

If any unathletic male ever had tried to change gender to make a living by suddenly becoming a female top athlete, we would know about it.

But let's make a pact. When King James finally retires from the NBA at age 50 and then decides to play another 20 years on the WNBA - we both will call him out for cheating.

Terence Y

eGerd – TBot here. You say, “Cheating is never acceptable,” yet you’ve admitted, multiple times, you’ll accept a minimum of 0.002% cheating. I didn’t realize never meant 0.002%. Wait, it doesn’t. Never means never. You can’t have it both ways. As long as you think you can, can the collective "we" take your opinion seriously on any topic, especially fairness? Happy Easter, if you celebrate. BTW, still waiting on answers to simple questions.

easygerd

Who says the 0.002% are cheating? Certainly not the NCAA.

The former Republican Governor in charge of the NCAA says their might or might be fewer than 10 out of 510,000 student athletes. And the 10 includes boys and girls and there are enough rules and regulations in place to avoid cheating and privacy issues.

It's a made-for-FoxTV crisis so Fox doesn't have to talk about the 10%, 25%, 150% "Tax Increase on all Americans". (source: Ted Cruz]

Terence Y

eGerd – TBot here. Who says your cherry-picked 0.002% is not cheating? Certainly not the NCAA. Or you. Meanwhile, we’re still waiting on answers to simple questions.

willallen

If the media says it is a crisis then its a crisis.

MichKosk

Thanks so much Mr. Horgan for your reasonable position. Sadly California Democrats have dug in their heels and the state stands to lose 8 billion in public school funding by continuing to insist on violating Title IX.

I will add that even pre-puberty boys outperform girls physically, though the differences become more extreme after puberty. Hormones don't make men into women. There are co-ed rec leagues, and those can be a choice, but younger girls deserve their own sports categories too.

As far as who makes the team, you are correct, for cut sports at HS level and above, not all will get to play or make the team. Several boys were cut from my son's HS baseball team this year. However, many of these boys who participate in girls' sports are in no-cut sports, like track and swimming. A boy recently shattered a girls's meet record in long jump in Southern Cal and will likely win state. He could easily compete in his correct sex category, but he wouldn't perform as well comparatively. Clearly he doesn't just "want to play with his friends", he wants to win championships. Maybe I should say my son "identifies" as 12 so he can go hit HRs in Little League?

jesg

I am getting so tired of this debate and the disproportionate attention while women's sports as a whole still receives much less support and funding than men's sports. It is clearly not about supporting women's sports unless you are even more vocal about that greater disparity. And these bans are mostly written very broadly and would apply to all ages, club sports, etc. There is not room here to explain why these bans are wrong. Please just watch Last Week Tonight's episode on this topic (free to watch on YouTube) which explains the facts and context of the arguments being made. This is exhausting and I suppose that is the point - to beat down a small group and their allies - the "T" in LGBTQ - so that they can move on to the "LGB."

MichKosk

You know what would solve the "disproportionate attention" on this issue? Banning boys and men in female sports- yes at all levels- for good. Why is "your side" so resistant to this simple solution? Why is a single boy's feelings more important that 50% of the population? All can play in the correct sex category. There are co-ed and single sex rec leagues where everyone plays, no one is left out.

And to anyone reading, I would NOT recommend the disgustingly misogynistic John Oliver episode mentioned. He spouts lies, false stats and mocks women and girls - making fun of what they do in bathrooms, making jokes about a player with a TBI, etc.

No one is "moving on to the LGB" in fact many of the women very active on the issue are lesbians - they don't want men in their private spaces either.

Women and girls of all ages deserve fairness, safety and privacy.

Terence Y

Very well written, MichKosk. I find it interesting we have folks who will go out of their way to rationalize cheating by cherry-picking a 0.002% statistic and saying hey, it’s only a “little bit” of cheating. Meanwhile, that statistic embodies the argument that biological men competing against biological women are inherently unfair. Apparently, these same folks don’t care or give consideration to fairness, safety, and privacy for women and girls. Until they do, I’m happy that we continue to give “disproportionate attention” and even “proportionate attention” on this issue until common sense returns.

MichKosk

Yes, and this column was about CIF, the governing body for HIGH SCHOOL sports, not the NCAA. We don't know the actual numbers of boys competing in girls' sports in CA because CIF doesn't keep records. Regardless, the correct number should be zero.

Can't respond to that other poster's weird red herrings as he/she brings up arguments that no one is making and refuses back and forth discussion.

Dirk van Ulden

Fox News reported yesterday that Dads were arrested for wearing a pink wrist band while watching their HS daughters having to include so-called "trans" kids on their sports teams. The girls do not want to give up playing as it would likely jeopardize their potential scholarships and other awards if they took a stand against having boys on their team. This is so outrageous that I almost threw a shoe at the TV. These boys should be ashamed and their parents called on it. And all of that because these wimps can't compete fairly? Who are we kidding?

Ray Fowler

Hi, Michelle

CNN reported that Britain's Supreme Court ruled today that the legal definition of “woman” excludes trans women. It's just a wonder why a local state legislator and local high school athletics official continue to think otherwise. There should always be an opportunity for persons on both sides of this issue to express why they agree with one position or the other... but it's beginning to sound more and more like those who want to allow biological males in girls' sports have reduced their argument to "because I said so."

MichKosk

Thanks Ray, this was excellent news for the women of Great Britain. (Imagine a court needing to define the word women, something everyone understood for thousands of years, but here we are in 2025.) Gender ideology- the idea that one can change sex because of feelings and biology doesn't matter- has ramifications way beyond high school sports. I won't repeat the stories I mentioned in another comment about women in the Bay Area facing harassment by men in locker rooms but those are some examples. Then we have the state-sanctioned rape camps known as California women's prisons, where male sex offenders are allowed to "identify" in to sharing cells with vulnerable women. (There's a current bill to fix this- let's see what Democrats in the legislature do with that.)

Ray Fowler

Let's not forget Ketanji Brown Jackson's not being able to define "woman." What will our banana republic super-majority legislature do with this issue? Nothing.

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