(Newswire.net — May 19, 2019) — A new bill passed in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives which will force schools to accept biological males who declare as women to compete in woman’s sports.
Tennis star Martina Navratilova who spent decades fighting for LGBT rights says allowing biological males to compete against women is utterly wrong. She warned last month in a Washington Post op-ed, that those who believe girls can compete and win against boys “denies a science.”
“Clearly that can’t be right. You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women,” Navratilova tweeted. “There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard,” Navratilova adds.
She was heavily criticized for her comment by Dr. Rachel McKinnon, a philosophy professor and trans athlete, who has made the news recently with her historic world title in the UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships in LA.
Rachel McKinnon, the first transgender world track cycling champion
“I hope you see your way to regretting how you’ve handled this,” Rachel tweeted back to Navratilova.
Pressured by aggravated transgender supporters’ attacks on social networks, the 62-year-old LGBT activist and the nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova later deleted her tweet and posted another one in which she apologized for her earlier comments.
“I am sorry if I said anything anywhere near transphobic- certainly I meant no harm – I will educate myself better on this issue but meantime I will be quiet about it. Thank you” the tweet reads.
The bill passed by House of Representatives “is going to totally eliminate women’s and girls’ sports,” Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Arizona) warned. She emphasized that the Equality Act, which passed the House 236-173 on Friday, would let biological males into women-only spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms, “even without any type of medical diagnosis or psychological diagnosis.”
“This bill hijacks the Civil Rights Act of 1964, erasing decades of progress for women across this country,” Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Missouri) declared in a press conference held Thursday, Russia Today reports.
Advocators of the controversial Equality Act claim, however, that the bill would not in any way compromise women’s sports. “Many states have sexual-orientation and gender-identity non-discrimination laws, and all of them still have women’s sports,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-New York) argued.
The facts in recent sports results, however, contradict the claims that there will be no “competitive advantages.” One of the states that rushed up to “equalise” gender in sports was awarded both first-place (Andraya Yearwood) and runner-up in high school women’s 55-meter dash competition to biological males who are in the process of transitioning to female.
It would be interesting to compare results after the US swimming authorities voted to let transgender persons compete in the category they choose. The proposal, known as R-1, was voted on by USA Swimming’s annual House of Delegates (HOD) “to support a sport culture of inclusion and diversity, while assuring a fair competitive environment.”