Transgender rights: One side’s sense of fairness hurts, not helps women

What do you feel when you look at this photo? I feel pity. Pity for the girl who’s being manhandled by a bigger, stronger transgender girl who wants to be a boy. Pity for the girl who’s dissatisfied with how she’s made and is trying to remake herself. But mostly I pity the girl who, for the sake of fairness, is unfairly overmatched. If I saw this happening in person, my instinct would be to step in and stop it.

Why is it happening? It’s happening because the party in power and a minority of Americans embrace an ideology that elevates “fairness” to the level of virtue.

Look again at the photo. Does it look fair to you? It’s certainly not fair to female athletes whose dreams—and in some cases, bones—are being shattered for the sake of a misguided sense of fairness.

Let’s grapple with some biological realities. Male hormone therapy produces stronger bones and muscles. It also provides significant advantages in testosterone, which powers aggression. Testosterone produces physical advantages—just as performance enhancing drugs do. Look at the photo once more. Notice the size and strength disparity in the arms, shoulders and overall musculature.

Our cells are coded with gender-specific chromosomes—no amount of hormone therapy can change the code. All that changes is physical appearance and levels of strength and aggression. In short, hormone therapy produces masculine women and feminine men and, in women’s sports, unfair advantages.

In light of these scientific truths, is it fair to pit chemically- and physically-altered girls against other girls? If I saw my daughter in a mismatch like this, those sanctioning the mismatch would find themselves facing 185 pounds of fatherly fury.

Fair play

To be fair, what if we created a separate competition for transgender athletes? We separate boys and girls in virtually every sport and have done so, commonsensically, for centuries. Why not give transgender athletes their own competitions and every fair opportunity to excel in their sports? Sociologists assign them their own gender categories beyond male and female—why not do the same for competition?

An obvious question arises: What if there aren’t enough transgender athletes to provide robust competition? This scenario is likely because biological transgenderism is exceedingly rare, but in the name of true fairness, isn’t it worth exploring? After all, sports dreams are at stake. So are bones. So is equality for women, ironically.

To our president: Please stop pushing your party’s version of fairness on us. You may elevate it beyond virtue and into dogma, but you cannot force those who disagree with you to accept its dangerous detriment to their daughters and sisters. Same goes for locker rooms and restrooms. You’re not helping women move forward; you’re hurting them and setting them back.

To those who are trying to be something they’re not: God says you’re fearfully and wonderfully made. He created you in his heart before he created the world and everything in it. If you were born to be a woman or man, it’s because that’s how he made you. He loves you deeply—as you are—so much so that he died for you.

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