As a Republican, I am getting a big thrill out of watching two of the Democratic tribe’s core constituencies start to square off against each other in what promises to be a lively internecine brawl over the posture of the party. Who’ll win? What will the loser do? Be good sports and maintain their allegiance, or abandon the party? Grab the popcorn!
There is a looming battle about to erupt between feminists and certain LGBTQ-plus activists over trans women in women’s sports, which Republicans will spotlight adopting the “victimization” narratives that liberals find irresistible. I suspect that Biden, caught in the middle, will come to feel like the subject of the ancient punishment in which the condemned was sewn into a weighted sack, along with a cat and a viper, and thrown into the sea. He will find this fray as lively and pleasant as the condemned man’s trip down to the sea floor.
Women and LGBTQ-plus communities are, of course, core constituencies of the Democratic party, and the loss of either would badly hurt their electoral chances. But what do they do when the demands of each are unavoidably in conflict? How loyal is each group to the party?
The right of biological men to compete in women’s sports has become one of the hottest issues that’s arisen in the transgender rights controversy. The most publicized case is swimmer Lia Thomas, who after making a mediocre showing competing as a man, went on to win a national championship competing as a woman. Not surprisingly, a number of his female competitors were unhappy, although many kept their opinions to themselves out of fear of political attack. While some people argue that no male competitive advantage exists, they are unable to dispute the fact that the objective performance of the best men in most sports significantly exceeds that of the best women. Trans women generally have had much better success competing against women than they had against men. The actual results speak for themselves.
The advocates for the transgendered have made it clear that they will not accept anything less than the full recognition of transgendered women as “real women” for all purposes, including competitive sports. Their media and political advocates are insistent that they must be allowed to compete against women and shrilly denounce any objections as “transphobic” and “hateful.”
But the voters are not so supportive. A 2023 Gallup Poll found that 69 percent of the American public believe that athletes should only compete as the sex that they were born, up from 62 percent in 2021, while only 26 percent support trans athletes. Various liberal feminist figures have come out to oppose trans women in women’s sports. The term TERF, for “Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminists,” has been coined, and applied to public figures like J.K. Rowling who do not accept trans women as true women, revealing a Democratic problem with feminists.
As we approach the election, and voters start to consider the personal impact on the lives of themselves and their children, the fractures will grow. The Democratic Party will be required to take a stand. What will it do?
Perhaps they might get the friendly media to ignore the dispute, or to tout the “everyone gets a trophy” ethos and downplay the importance of competition and ranking, proclaiming that competitive sports are now deemed passé and irrelevant. This could appeal to liberals’ equity instincts when it is pointed out that the most successful athletes receive far more awards than they do.
Not surprisingly, this dispute is a hot potato that the Biden administration would prefer to avoid. His proposed Title IX regulations try to “cut the baby in half” by prohibiting a categorical disqualification based on sex, but then vaguely mention some unspecified instances may allow for differentiation. This has satisfied neither side.
Title IX, the 1972 federal law that mandates equality of the sexes in school sports programs, resulted in a great expansion in scholarships and in funding for women’s sports opportunities in colleges, and by most accounts has been a great success. Many women have been able to compete at a high level and to attend college on these scholarships.
The stakes are high and the dynamic pretty clear. If biological men are allowed to compete in women’s sports, they are likely to dominate the competitions, and will end up receiving much of the recognition and the scholarship assistance currently reserved for women. With the cost of college being so high, it is not hard to imagine men who might fabricate a female “identity” in order to secure a scholarship, especially since the school would be prohibited from challenging that identification.
Assuming that the Democrats continue to champion the transgender agenda, how will Democratic women vote? Will they be good sports, driven by their traditional Democratic branding and loathing of Republicans, and maintain their party allegiance; or will they consider their futures and those of their daughters and their granddaughters? How will women react to seeing their interests sacrificed to the latest big, new thing? Stay tuned. Δ
John Donegan is a retired attorney in Pismo Beach, who never heard the word “scholarship” come up in any discussion of his sports career. Respond by emailing a commentary to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Autumn Arts Annual 2023.
Although Mr. Donegan’s argument is fueled by only a single example, it’s clear that transgender women will have distinct advantages competing with women in sports. However, there is no evidence that the controversy will rise to the level of importance he claims it will be. The LGBTQ community has already won support on a wide array of concerns. Although they hae more to achieve, it’s doubtful that they would give everything up by turning to the Republican party or by not voting.
@Jill Stegman: How would women be “giving everything up” by voting Republican? Like all Americans, they, too, are benefited by lower crime, controlled immigration, low inflation, etc. You may be correct that women will suppress their indignation over having their interests sacrificed to the trans agenda, especially if the media downplays the issue, but they may not. Like the issue of abortion, which also does not directly effect most women voters, it is largely symbolic, but may emotionally resonate, especially if Republican ads emphasize the “colonization of women’s spaces by men”, etc. and feature pictures of Lia Thomas, whose male physique speaks volumes. And, of course, if the trans supporters detect any sort of weakening of support on the issue by the Democrats, we can expect to see some pretty high profile protests. We’ll see.
Talk about a dog with a bone.
Mr. Donegan will not let this issue go away, despite the fact that it impacts less than 1% of the American population. I think Mr. Donegan simply cannot accept an America that affords all of its citizens, including gay, lesbian, trans, non-binary, the same rights as the rest of us. He looks upon these people as misguided at best but simply freakish at worst because, as an old man, he never envisioned an America where obvious men dressed as women and obvious women dressed as men could be accepted as viable human beings. He probably went to the circus as a kid and was scarred for life by viewing the bearded lady.
To assert that it divides the Democratic Party is laughable. Democrats are pretty certain they want to give equal rights to every American. In other words, when confronted with a Republican Party that would most certainly suspend the Constitution if their chosen candidate was elected, it is quite a low priority for them.
I’m a Republican and believe me, nobody is any more dysfunctional than our party. It’s become an embarrassment. Until we rid ourselves of Trump and start to return our Congressional Leaders back to reasonable people rather than the likes of Goetz, MTG and Brobert we have no business pointing out flaws in the Dems base or political figures.
Mr. Donegan’s comment to Jill Stegman is just another example of republicans claiming their right to refute reality. Although they attempt to pin high crime on democrats, the fact is that 8 of the 10 states with the highest murder rates are republican-voting states. And if he’s going to infer that republicans create lower crime rates, maybe he should take a longer look at their party’s leader, who currently has 91 criminal indictments against him. Regarding immigration, neither republicans nor democrats have done much about the issue for decades other than to just kick that can down the road to the next administration. While the Trump administration reduced legal immigration, they also instituted policies that collapsed illegal immigration enforcement and the stabilization of the illegal immigrant population. Regarding inflation, based on analyses of economic data from 1953 to 2020, neither party has a better track record. During that 67-year time period, inflation has averaged 3.35% under democratic administrations and 3.5% under republicans. Lastly, Jill Stegman did not say that “women will suppress their indignation over having their interests sacrificed to the trans agenda.”
John Donegan, a retired attorney who lives in Pismo Beach, who attended an actual law school, who put on big boy pants and had an actual job at one time, who now sends his Facebook posts directly to the New Times, just wrote 800 words about the 30 trans women who have competed in college sports. He’s the best. We’re lucky to have him.
Since neither Mr. Smith nor his dog will bury the bone, and instead insist on maintaining their transgender campaign, let me say that I agree with him that transgenders are less than 1% of population. Where we disagree is that I don’t believe that it is a matter of “equal rights” for this tiny population to force us to revise our language, science, sports, and social constructs to accommodate their demands. “Live and let live” does not mean one group has to cede control of their lives to another group. The transgendered are entitled to the same rights and privileges as the rest of us, but not to reconfigure society to their liking.
I never saw a bearded lady at the circus, being preoccupied watching the animals, acrobats and clowns. Mr. Smith apparently chose to spend his time in the the sideshows featuring oddities like the bearded lady, two-headed snakes, “authentic” mermaids, and microcephalics. My tastes were more elevated.
Yep, Mr. Donegan, I was particularly enthralled with John Merrick, the elephant man, and the Siamese twins, Cheng and Eng.
I guess you win the argument. Trans and non-binary Americans should simply melt back into the woodwork so that you can admire the beautiful animals and not view what you perceive as freaks.
Easy prediction: in 2023 and in the 2024 primaries and the November election, GOP candidates will use yet more divisive rhetoric, catering to their Fox News base, inflaming their culture wars at the expense of larger substantive issues. The full story of swimmer Lia Thomas’s transition to a female identity (including hormone replacement therapy) needs to be considered. You can find it at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lia_Thomas.
Tony – your comments are spot on!!! It’s refreshing to hear such an intelligent response on this Op-Ed thread.
“Will they be good sports, driven by their traditional Democratic branding and loathing of Republicans, and maintain their party allegiance…”
Unequivocally YES.
Sadly Deplorable’s absurd culture wars continually put culture dinosaurs on the wrong side of history. 20 years ago it was all the handwringing about being gay. Pretty sure society hasn’t imploded because two same-sex people have been able to get married. Today, instead of whining about the 8% who are LGBTQ, now we see someone worried about the 1%. What’s next? The 0.1%?
Maybe if the GQP focussed on strong economies and helping the 99% instead of the 1%, they have a chance at being relevant again.
Signed Former Republican.
The Democrats need to decide which demographic group is more oppressed- female victims of the patriarchy, or trans women, aka, men. Im betting on the trans women.