USA TODAY Sports
People said it was no big deal.
Trans athletes in women’s sports are not a problem, they claimed. Why are we freaking out over such a small percentage of the population? Or, as soccer star Megan Rapinoe said back in 2023: “Show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It’s just not happening.”
I can’t speak to the nefarious part. But yes, it is happening.
A blockbuster new report from the UN presents a bleak picture of this injustice — the one that we’ve been gaslit about and told to believe is as real as Bigfoot.
“According to information received, by 30 March 2024, over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports,” the “Violence Against Women and Girls in Sports” study said. That’s nearly 900 medals lost to biological males who identify as women.
That sure is a lot of nothing.
Compiled by Reem Alsalem, United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, the report was presented to the UN General Assembly earlier this month.
It calls for better protections for female athletes and explains how the invasion of biological men into women’s sports was enabled by “policies implemented by international federations and governing bodies.”
And while Alsalem’s study did not call out specific events or a time frame when these male interlopers swooped in, it noted these injustices occurred at various levels of competition.
But we need to be honest. It’s only been in the last few years that we’ve decided to shamefully replace common sense and fairness with empathy for mentally ill males.
It started in Connecticut girls track, crept into women’s cycling and reached peak insanity in 2022 when Lia Thomas, formerly Will Thomas, transitioned and joined the UPenn women’s swim team.
Not only were teammates told that they would have to welcome Thomas onto their squad — and into their locker room — they were also told to shut up and take it like a man. And if they had a problem with this set-up, they should seek counseling.
What resulted was a culture of fear. Both parents and athletes were afraid to speak out. The girls were told they’d be sacrificing future careers, and cancellation was a guarantee. They’d be branded with the irredeemable “transphobe” tag. Pariahs.
This despite Thomas, who is an obvious dude standing 6 foot 4, towered over competitors. Each image was more farcical than the next.
The dam broke when former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines spoke out, saying it was wrong. Thomas’ teammate Paula Scanlon followed. Both did so at great personal cost.
Then sportscasters like Sage Steele and Sam Ponder joined in. (Steele later revealed that ESPN, her employer at the time, told her to stop speaking out against Thomas.)
Former Levi’s executive Jennifer Sey noticed that apparel companies like Nike, which claim to champion female athletes have been quiet. In the spring, she launched XX-XY Athletics and is producing evocative viral ads that call out the sneaker giant for its cowardice.
As the chorus grows bigger and louder, the illiberal activists are losing their grip on the conversation. And, most importantly, girls are standing up and saying they’re not gonna take it.
In May, five middle-school girls from West Virginia declined to compete against a trans athlete in a track and field event. Just this month, the girls soccer team at New Hampshire’s Bishop Brady high school boycotted a game against Kearsage Regional because their star player, Maelle Jacques, is trans and reportedly stands close to 6 feet. (New Hampshire has a law against trans girls and women playing in female sports, but Jacques’ family sued and a federal court granted a preliminary injunction, so the trans athlete can still play.)
And in college volleyball, a revolution is afoot since it was revealed that San Jose State University has a transgender player named Blaire Fleming. Multiple opponents from the Mountain West Conference have courageously forfeited rather than play against Fleming.
Last week, Fleming, who jumps like a cheetah, slammed an opponent in the face with a ball — highlighting that trans athletes competing in women’s sports isn’t just unfair, it’s unsafe.
“Women and girls already have many odds stacked against them that impede their equal and effective participation in sports. In addition, their ability to play sport in conditions of safety, dignity and fairness has been further eroded by the intrusion of males who identify as female in female-only sports and related spaces,” Alsalem’s report said.
Former President Trump has been explicit in his support for fairness in women’s sports, saying he would ban trans-identifying males from playing women’s sports.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris, a devout pronoun-ista who has “she/her” in her X bio, hasn’t come out to support women in sports. Nary a peep.
It’s a glaring oversight — especially as loads of anecdotal evidence becomes hard-to-ignore data.