US states ban trans athletes from competing in women's sport

[nickymanchester]

This was in the Guardian earlier today, although it was actually reported in the US press last week:-

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/11/mississippi-governor-bill-banning-trans-athletes-womens-teams

Tate Reeves, the Republican governor of Mississippi, is set to sign a bill on Thursday that will ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams.

Mississippi will become the first state this year to enact such a ban, after a federal court blocked a similar Idaho law last year. Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2536 is set to become law on 1 July, although a legal challenge is possible.

Reeves, who has three daughters who play sports, has said that the bill is needed to “protect young girls from being forced to compete with biological males for athletic opportunities”. The governor added that the “push for kids to adopt transgenderism is just wrong”.

[...]

More than 20 states are currently proposing restrictions on athletics or gender-confirming health care for transgender minors this year. Conservative lawmakers are responding to an executive order by Joe Biden that bans discrimination based on gender identity in school sports and elsewhere. The US president signed the order on 20 January, the day he took office.

South Dakota’s state senate passed a bill that restricts transgender female athletes from competing on high school and college girls’ and women’s teams. Schools and athletics bodies will be required to collect written statements that document each student’s “reproductive biology”.

So there is at least some acknowledgment of what is happening.

I also thought it was interesting the point that the Governor himself has three daughters who are involved with sport:-

Reeves has three daughters who play sports and he said March 4 on Twitter that Mississippi’s bill would “protect young girls from being forced to compete with biological males for athletic opportunities.”

“It’s crazy we have to address it, but the Biden E.O. forced the issue,” Reeves tweeted that day. “Adults? That’s on them. But the push for kids to adopt transgenderism is just wrong.”

Is this perhaps an example of that old phrase "the personal is political"?

It has been noticed. Ultimately it leads to Orwellian nightmares:

www.factennessee.org/news-views/news-snapshot/california-insurance-department-say-trans-breast-removal-is-reconstructive-surgery

The procedure to be performed on women is not to be“cosmetic” surgery but is instead “reconstructive” surgery related to “abnormal structures of the body caused by congenital defects.”

For more information, this was discussed in an earlier thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4124821-Abnormal-structures-of-the-body-caused-by-congenital-defects

Going back to @nauticant 's earlier post where you talked about journalists misleading by the language used -

I heard this item reported on the BBC World Service news last night & was absolutely fuming at their wording of the issue
The BBC report was saying that 'So-called biological males' would be prevented from competing in girl's sports.

Why the 'so-called', the, BBC??

What's wrong with just saying 'biological males'??

I also just checked on the BBC website for the news item, and it doesn't appear to be there. Just lots of life-affirming stories about transgender kids in their 'lockdown learning' section ffs.

BBC, we see you.

BBC, when you try to back out of this mess in the near future and try saying 'oh no, nothing to do with us' we see you.

So what if a rare trans woman plays on a random team

This argument always makes a shiver go down my spine. It shows that the speaker regards women as subhuman. It scares me.

One transwoman on one team will affect 20-40 women in the squad, perhaps 10-20 times as many women in the league. The legacy of that TW will linger for decades, affecting thousands of women in records that women can never break. Thousand of girls will decide not to bother with competitive sport because they can't win, at any moment a CeCe could decide to take the prize. All those religious girls will be barred from the sport by their families because they might be forced to share changing facilities with boys.

The speaker does not even recognise the existence of those women. Chilling insight into their minds.

@30PercentRecycled

So what if a rare trans woman plays on a random team

This argument always makes a shiver go down my spine. It shows that the speaker regards women as subhuman. It scares me.

One transwoman on one team will affect 20-40 women in the squad, perhaps 10-20 times as many women in the league. The legacy of that TW will linger for decades, affecting thousands of women in records that women can never break. Thousand of girls will decide not to bother with competitive sport because they can't win, at any moment a CeCe could decide to take the prize. All those religious girls will be barred from the sport by their families because they might be forced to share changing facilities with boys.

The speaker does not even recognise the existence of those women. Chilling insight into their minds.

Great post.

The speaker does not even recognise the existence of those women. Chilling insight into their minds.

Excellent point. I can understand the busy Democrat sentiment of, "with COVID, poverty, gun violence, police brutality, climate, etc. why the focus on this niche group?" (Although it fails to connect the dots to 50% of the population's rights), but the erasure of the women and girls who miss out is completely unacceptable.