Protect women's sports says... Caitlyn Jenner?

(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

Most of the headlines you tend to see about people being canceled by the transgender mafia for speaking out against men competing in women’s sports tend to focus on J.K. Rowling, and it’s true that she comes under a lot of attacks. But there are others out there, including many professional female athletes who have raised their voices in similar protests. One celebrity I didn’t expect to hear from, however, was Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner. The former gold-medal Olympic decathlete did just that this week, speaking out in favor of allowing female athletes to compete against their own gender and not allowing them to be shut out by transgender competitors with significant biological advantages over the women, such as collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas. Pack your bags for the Cancel Train, Caitlyn. I can hear the whistle blowing in the distance already. (NY Post)

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Caitlyn Jenner has spoken out against Lia Thomas, the University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer who has been demolishing the competition and shattering school records.

Jenner appeared on Fox News’ “America Reports” on Wednesday and emphasized her belief that she does not believe transgender athletes should compete in sports of the gender to which they have transitioned.

“I’ve said from the beginning, biological boys should not be playing in women’s sports,” Jenner said. “We need to protect women’s sports.”

While Jenner said she supports Thomas’ choice to live life “authentically,” she also said that such a choice comes with “responsibility and some integrity.” Jenner went on to say that the transgender community has “a lot of issues” to deal with, mentioning that people who “transition” in this fashion have a suicide rate nine times higher than the general public. (As has been my policy for some time now, I refer to Jenner with a feminine pronounce because she has gone through with full gender-modification surgery, even if that doesn’t make her an actual, biological woman.)

I suppose there’s nothing hypocritical about Jenner taking this sort of stance. Back when she was named Bruce, Jenner competed as a male against other males and achieved a historic level of success. After “transitioning,” she did not go on to compete against women, so we’re at least seeing some consistency here. And the points she is making are the same that so many others have brought up in the past. Women and girls have been through a long, uphill battle to have their sports taken as seriously as their male counterparts.

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While there is still a significant disparity in the compensation male and female athletes receive (sadly, for understandable free-market reasons) there are now at least significant opportunities available to female athletes beyond what was seen in previous decades. But just as the playing field started to look a bit more level, transgender athletes began showing up and blowing the doors off of the actual female competitors in a number of sports. This is destructive behavior, not some form of female or gay empowerment.

On a related note, the NCAA has once again made changes to its transgender sports guidelines, and it now makes even less sense than it did before.

The NCAA has adopted new regulations in the wake of Lia Thomas, 22, a transgender swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, shattering records on the women’s swim team.

Now there will be a sport-by-sport approach for transgender athletes, bringing the organization in line with the U.S. and International Olympic Committees.

Thomas has become a lightning rod as her story has gained national attention in recent months.

The NCAA is claiming that this makes sense because they will defer to the rules as enforced by the Olympic committees and other applicable governing agencies for various sports. But this doesn’t “make sense” because those organizations don’t all issue the same guidelines and the rules aren’t the same for all sports. Transgender athletes are allowed to compete in the women’s events for some sports if they follow specific guidelines for hormone therapy and such, but not in other sports.

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So what is it that the NCAA is really trying to say here? If an athlete born with two x chromosomes, a penis, and testicles wants to compete in a women’s swim meet, they can because they’re a woman. But if they want to compete in the girl’s boxing or martial arts division they can’t because they’re not a woman? Wow… it sure sounds like the NCAA is certainly “following The Science” on this one, doesn’t it? Welcome to the 21st century, where madness reigns and the mob rules.

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