Did the Kentucky governor’s race wind up coming down to transgender issues as one of the deciding factors? That seems to be the implication suggested by Jeremy Peters at the New York Times this week. He focuses on some ads being run by a group supporting Republican Governor Matt Bevin that deal with proposals to redefine the words “gender” and “sex” when it comes to competitive women’s and girls’ sports.

While Bevin opposes such a plan, his opponent supports it. There’s really no surprise there, except for the fact that it’s happening in a red state like Kentucky. But what’s more instructive is the tone Peters sets in the article, asking if this is how conservatives plan to “make trans kids and school sports the next battleground in the culture wars.” Here are just a few samples from this lengthy screed. (Emphasis added)

[The group] is effectively running a pilot program for the 2020 election that will help it determine how it could use the debate over transgender rights to rally conservative voters in support of President Trump.

The results could inform what type of campaigns social conservatives run in the future — and answer whether the delicate and deeply personal questions around gender identity are the next major wedge issue in American politics or, as recent experience suggests, something that most voters and politicians would rather not see politicized…

The attack takes significant liberties with the facts, making it appear as if nondiscrimination laws that include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, which Mr. Beshear supports, would open the door for boys to join girls’ sports leagues just because they want a competitive advantage, not because they are transitioning genders.

There’s almost too much to unpack in this article as it pushes forward with much, much more of the same. Peters describes what he apparently sees as a secret plot by Republicans to “undermine the rights” of LGBT people across the country.

This is, of course, a dumpster load of hogwash and horse hockey. First of all, Peters adopts the strategy of nearly all social justice warriors and falsely conflates issues of gay rights with the highly problematic trend of allowing so-called “trans kids” – specifically boys identifying as girls – to compete in female sports competitions. I’ve yet to see a single credible person arguing that gay athletes shouldn’t be allowed to compete in school, international, Olympic or professional sports. But by lumping the issue into the entire LGBT basket, they attempt to pull in more support from a solidly Democrat-based demographic group.

Nobody is arguing about the “trans identity” of the athletes in question. We’re discussing biological boys and men dominating female competitive sports, such as we’re seeing in Connecticut in track and field events. The distinct physical advantages these players have over actual girls and women is not significantly diluted even when they suppress their testosterone levels. (And in Connecticut they don’t even have to do that much.) These facts have been born out in multiple studies.

The author also disingenuously claims that conservatives are suggesting that all of these athletes are “coming out” as transgender to win competitions rather than through some sincere desire to “transition” to something other than their actual, biological sex. While it’s possible that this may be the case for some players, it’s irrelevant to the discussion. Whether they are “sincere” in their trans identity or not, they still maintain an unfair competitive advantage and they are knocking actual girls and women out of opportunities for college scholarships and top honors in international competitions.

This is the strategy the left (and much of the media) is employing in their efforts to force the trans mafia agenda down everyone’s throats. And yes, it deserves to be a campaign issue, not just in Kentucky, but across the entire nation.