When two high school athletes who were born male but identify as female took first and second place at Connecticut’s girls indoor track championship this year, it wasn’t just a local news story.As I said, the Crazy Years.
To some, it was a story of triumph and courage. The winner, a junior from Bloomfield High School, set a girls state indoor record of 6.95 seconds in the 55-meter dash, and went on to win the New England titles in both the 55-meter dash and the 300-meter dash.
To others, it was a story of shock and disappointment: Is this the end of women’s sports?
To Selina Soule, a 16-year-old runner from Glastonbury, it was personal.
A junior, Selina missed qualifying for the 55-meter in the New England regionals by two spots. Two spots, she said, that were taken by biological boys.
Had the boys who identify as girls not been allowed to compete, Selina would have placed sixth, qualifying to run the 55 in front of college coaches at the New England regionals.
Instead, she placed eighth, watching the 55 from the sidelines after qualifying in only the long jump, an event in which the transgender athletes didn’t compete.
“It’s very frustrating and heartbreaking when us girls are at the start of the race and we already know that these athletes are going to come out and win no matter how hard you try,” Selina told The Daily Signal. “They took away the spots of deserving girls, athletes … me being included.”
While the debate over transgender athletes and fairness is complex, the situation in Connecticut has brought forth another complicating layer: Plenty of parents and high school girls appear to object to the participation of biological boys in girls sports, but fearing public bullying and backlash, they’re not speaking out.
Publicly, at least.
Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Saturday, May 11, 2019
The Very Definition of Heinlein's "Crazy Years"
Liberals pretend to believe that it's perfectly reasonable for boys to compete in girls' sports, and that you are the horrible person for thinking that's crazy:
It's all fun and games until a girl ends up injured or dead because the transgirl she was wrestling or playing lacrosse or soccer against has had the advantage of the testosterone that regular girls are banned from using. I am especially worried about girls in wrestling. All it takes is one dangerous hold and someone ends up hurt. By the way, I guess this means we can do away with Title IX scholarships-long after some schools had to jettison successful men's teams to accommodate more women in athletics.
ReplyDelete