Recently, Illinois’ shameful and ignorant U.S. Senator Dick Durbin feigned outrage about a pro-female bill that every other shameful and ignorant Democrat opposed along with him. That bill, sponsored by Senator Tommy Tuberville, would have protected young girls and women from being forced to compete athletically against boys or men.
Durbin ridiculed the bill based on NCAA President Charlie Baker’s claim that only ten of the 500,000 NCAA athletes are cross-dressing men. What Durbin didn’t mention is that the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” does not apply only to college sports. The act states,
It shall be a violation of subsection (a) for a recipient of Federal funds who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.
This would include any schools at any level that receive federal funds for an athletic program.
Experts claim that due to privacy laws, no one knows how many “trans” students participate in sports. These experts’ stab in the dark suggests the number may be one hundred, which raises questions about how many girls and women are affected by the presence of one hundred or more boys in their sports and locker rooms.
Tennis great Martina Navratilova, responded to Durbin on X:
Senator- each trans identified male athlete impacts hundreds of female athletes. Why make thousands of women feel uncomfortable, unsafe, and compete in an unfair fight in order to accommodate fewer than 10 [trans identified males]?
How many female collegiate athletes are affected by the presence of ten men on their teams, on opposing teams, or in their locker rooms? How many girls of all ages are now competing against and undressing in the presence of boys?
Does Durbin have those numbers? Does he care about those numbers?
Then Durbin, the octogenarian who has spent over forty years in Congress, got creepy—or deceitful:
The bill, which has no enforcement mechanism, could subject women and girls to physical inspection by an adult if someone from an opposing team accused them of being transgender. Think about that for a second. Your daughter, someone in your family going to play a sport and someone on the other team challenges them: “That’s not a little girl. That’s a transgender boy.” This bill that we’re about to vote on gives authority to someone to make a physical inspection of that little girl. … Does that sound a little extreme to you? Well, it sure does to me, too.
Durbin, who supports abortion from conception to birth for any or no reason, who opposes legal requirements that babies who survive abortions be provided medical care, and who supports pervy teachers exposing minors to obscene material, has the audacity to talk about “extreme” actions.
To be clear, Durbin thinks Tuberville’s bill is a non-issue because there are purportedly only ten cross-dressing men in the NCAA, but, Durbin thinks, the bill is terrible because creepy Dick Durbin imagines that someday, somewhere, someone may possibly demand to inspect the genitals of an athlete.
In Durbin’s dystopia, no one should care about all the girls and women who are affected by ten cross-dressing men in college sports where they don’t belong, but everyone should care about Durbin’s weird fantasy about one imaginary athlete.
I suspect that if any adult were to demand to inspect the genitals of minors, it would be one of the people who exposes minors to obscene material and invites drag queens to twerk in front of toddlers.
Durbin cited one person—Charlie Baker—who cited one statistic pertaining solely to the NCAA. But there are other relevant stats. For example, what is the percentage increase in boys and men playing in girls’ or women’s sports over the past twenty years?
How many girls and women have been compelled to forfeit games or tournaments rather than compete against boys or men?
How many girls or women have lost their places in finals or lost medals because of having to compete against a boy or man?
Durbin thinks the potential problem of adults demanding to inspect minors’ genitals arises from the absence of an enforcement mechanism. Here’s an idea: Why doesn’t Durbin propose an enforcement mechanism that would prohibit genital inspections.
Durbin apparently believes that basing laws and policies on lies is ethically justifiable as long as the lies affect only a few people. Despite Durbin’s tortured rhetoric, a “transgirl” is no kind of girl. A “transgirl” is a boy. And in collegiate sports, a “transwoman” is, in reality, a man.
No law or policy should be premised on a falsehood, so no birth certificates, drivers’ licenses, REAL IDs, or passports should identify the holder as anything other than their biological sex. No arm of the government has any vested interest in “gender identity,” which is constituted by the subjective, internal feelings a person has about their biological sex.
No sports team has any vested interest in the disordered feelings or cosplaying of athletes. When it comes to sports, all that matters—or should matter—to athletes, coaches, officials, the NCAA, high school sports associations, or athletic clubs is the objective, immutable biological sex of athletes.
The subordination of biological sex to subjective, metaphysical “gender identity” is not solely a concern for women. Of course, women suffer disproportionately and in different ways than men do when a society says feelings about maleness or femaleness matter more than maleness or femaleness. But the foundational issue pertains to the reality and meaning of biological sex. Does biological sex exist, and does it have meaning that a society should recognize and honor?
If it does not, then there remains no reason to recognize and honor it anywhere for anyone. We as a society should ban sex segregation for all people in all contexts. If sex segregation is analogous to racial segregation, then it should be banned absolutely.
If, however, biological sex exists and has meaning, then it should be recognized and honored in all relevant contexts. Those contexts include sports, locker rooms, restrooms, prison cells, shared hospital rooms, single-sex schools, dormitory rooms, or anywhere humans undress and/or engage in acts relative to private bodily functions.
While men rarely suffer from the physical predations of women, they too deserve to be free of the presence of biological females in their locker rooms and restrooms. Embodiment as male or female matters. Respect for privacy matters.
Durbin closed by quoting Harleigh Walker, a boy who pretends to be a girl, who spoke before a Senate Judiciary committee in 2023 when he was sixteen years old. Walker, a trans activist, was not an athlete and was not testifying about gender-dysphoric boys participating in sports. After reading part of Walker’s testimony having nothing to do with sports, Durbin last week said,
We’re going to vote here to give someone an unspecified the right to physically inspect a girl or a young woman. … My goodness, is this what we’re all about here in the United States?
Nope, that’s not what we’re about here in the United States. What many Americans are about is ensuring safety, respect, and fairness in sports by recognizing and honoring physical embodiment as male or female. Durbin expects Americans to care deeply about the beliefs of one 16-year-old activist but not be troubled at all by the presence of ten men in NCAA women’s sports.
Durbin is a deceitful man unworthy of his office.
The Women’s Liberation Front argues persuasively that the practice of allowing boys and men to compete in girls’ and women’s sports harms women in several ways. The practice will,
- Deprive female athletes of scholarships, cash prizes, and sports-based academic opportunities;
- Expose female athletes to increased risk of psychological harm, sexual violation and assault by placing males in female changing rooms;
- Increase the risk of serious physical injury to female players; and
- Violate the conscience and free speech of female athletes who believe in the biological basis of sex.
None of that matters to Durbin—longtime foe of women.