I’ve been envisioning this day for a while – the moment the Left would support two views that conflict with one another and have to somehow make a case for both. Will you be pro-trans? Or pro-women? Are you going to turn your back on female athletes for the sake of all-inclusiveness for transgender individuals? It seems the answer is yes – recognized female athletes are among those who support the Equality Act – destroying the next generation of women’s opportunities in athletics. And who has taken the side of pro-women? Republicans. A group of Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania’s State House are promoting the “Save Women’s Sports Act” – a bill Gov. Tom Wolf has promised to veto. While it may not be the future in Pennsylvania, 31 states are considering similar bills. So what’s the big deal?
I’ll start by acknowledging I understand that there are many individuals who do not share my worldview, which is Christian. But my worldview is part of who I am, and if I’m going to be authentic, I can’t take it off for the sake of politics. And you know what? My worldview is the reason I don’t believe in discrimination (“the unjust or prejudicial/harmful treatment”) of anyone for any reason – age, race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, political party, etc. I may not agree with you in a few of these areas, but that doesn’t mean I want you to encounter harm. Believe it or not, it is possible to respectfully disagree.
Not a Christian? No worries – think of this as context. I’ve got the evolution stuff covered, too.
As a Christian I believe all humans were created equal – and in God’s image. But equal doesn’t mean the exact same. The human race was created with diversity – Adam didn’t find a suitable partner, and so Eve was created (Gen. 2:18). Eve wasn’t created to be an identical reflection of Adam, but to exemplify other traits of God. Both were created equal – ruling over the animals and plants – but both were created unique.
Whether you believe in Creation or Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, the bottom line is, our “sex assigned at birth” (to use the appropriate lingo) is a lot more than genetalia.
A penis and vagina are not solely parts that compliment everything you externally “learn from the world” about gender. If that was the case, there would be no need for hormones or medication in the sex change process. Your genitals come with a complex set of genetics – the biological sexes differ in more than genitalia, regardless of whether you believe they were created by God or evolved over time.
Here’s a relevant excerpt from an article in the Sex, Gender and Medicine issue of Stanford Medicine.
“In a study of 34 rhesus monkeys, for example, males strongly preferred toys with wheels over plush toys, whereas females found plush toys likable. It would be tough to argue that the monkeys’ parents bought them sex-typed toys or that simian society encourages its male offspring to play more with trucks.”
This is a big part of why giving a transgender woman a spot on the team isn’t fair – no matter how hard you try, you can’t completely change someone’s sex and all that goes with it. In other words, the new trans girl on the team is going to play like a boy. I’m sorry ladies, but that means we’re going to have a tough time keeping up when it comes to athletics – science shows our bones and ligaments are different, our muscle mass is different, our metabolism is different, our cardiovascular systems are different – the list goes on and on. Seriously, you can buy this book if you’re interested in the lengthy list.
Does that mean gender dysphoria is fake? Absolutely not. Gender dysphoria is a real condition – offering a sex change is a relatively new way of treating this condition, so information is limited. The most extensive study I could find was one in Sweden that followed individuals for 30 years. From what I’ve read the society is very supportive of transgender individuals, but unfortunately, the study came to a disturbing conclusion:
“Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism…“
The Obama Administration was disturbed by this study and unable to find any other proof it works, which is why they made the decision not to cover it under Medicare plans…TWICE (see their memo on the decision here and here).
I’m just not convinced getting a spot on the team is going to make all of this better – and I’m confident it’s going to make it worse for female athletes (those who were females “assigned at birth”). Perhaps we need to learn more about gender dysphoria and reconsider treatment options. Whether you believe God gave it to you or that it’s been hundreds of millions of years in the making – “sex assigned at birth” isn’t something that’s easily undone.
-The Petite Patriot