AP
Monday is Patriots’ Day in Boston, and in keeping with tradition, the running of the 129th annual Boston Marathon.
But when it comes to women’s freedom, something doesn’t add up.
Since 2023, runners can qualify for hotly contested slots in the limited-access race in one of three gender categories: men, women and non-binary.
The official qualifying time for women is 16.6% slower than for men — a full 30 minutes — recognizing a fact we all know to be true: men are faster than women.
The non-binary category uses the women’s qualifying time, due to another basic fact: Non-binary individuals may be either biologically male or biologically female.
In the two years since the non-binary category was introduced, both winners have been biological men, evidence, if we needed it, of the truth of Fact No. 1.
Yet now the marathon has allowed a male to compete in the women’s division, because he claims to be a woman.
Riya Suising, born Robert Chien Hwa Young, is a man. A long-time runner, Suising has competed in races in the female category more than 338 times since 2009, medaling for his age group more than 140 times.
In each of those races, he displaced a deserving woman — and every time he stood atop the podium, he displaced many.
Allowing male runners in women’s races undermines fairness and disadvantages female competitors.
It means a man could win every Boston Marathon category — men’s, women’s and non-binary, too.
No space is protected for women.
On a day meant to honor courage and freedom, is this what breaking barriers really means?
And at a time when President Trump is suing states for violating Title IX, and Britain’s Supreme Court is ruling that transgender women are not, in fact, legally women — is the marathon’s decision what we really want?
Simply claiming to be a woman does not erase male athletic advantage.
Take VO2 max, or the body’s ability to use oxygen during intense exercise.
It’s a key marker of endurance, and men’s VO2 max is, on average, 50% greater than women’s.
Nothing can change human sex. Suising, whose qualifying time just barely got him a slot in the race, stole a spot from an actual woman.
Sports competitions set clear boundaries for a reason — and women are not merely impaired men.
The argument that dosing men with enough wrong-sex hormones means they should compete against women is deeply misogynistic.
Women are outstanding athletes and deserve a fair and equal shot not only to win and stand atop the podium, but just to be able to get in the game.
Sports are not about inclusion. Not everyone qualifies for the Boston Marathon. Female athletes dedicate their lives to achieving the necessary qualifying time to run in that storied event.
Yet Bank of America and Adidas, the marathon’s lead corporate sponsors, are tacitly endorsing the Boston Athletic Association’s obliteration of the women’s category and the erasure of female athletes.
It’s time for we the people to reject their blatant disregard of women.
Boycotts work. Look at Bud Light, which lost its top spot in the beer category because of an alliance with trans-identified male influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Bud Light drinkers rejected the lie that men can become women, and rejected the brand as well.
It’s not bigotry, it’s simply an embrace of biological reality — and Bud Light lost over $1 billion in sales for embracing the fiction that men can be women if they wear enough makeup.
If Adidas and Bank of America won’t step away from the race, we should step away from their brands.
And corporate sponsorship has incredible influence in sports. Only when Proctor and Gamble dropped its support of USA Gymnastics over the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal did USAG take action to enforce safer training environments for female athletes.
We can use our purchasing power to send a clear message to Adidas and Bank of America that biological reality matters — and that a loud bullying minority saying men can be women does not make it so.
An overwhelming majority of Americans, 79% of us, agree that women’s sports must be protected, including most Democrats.
Allowing even one man to breach the boundary means that “women’s sports” no longer exist.
The men’s category in the Boston Marathon is open to Riya Suising. The non-binary category is, too.
The women’s category must not be.
Misogyny looks no better in a running bra. It’s still a man insisting on special treatment, getting priority over every woman’s fair shot.
Jennifer Sey is founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics.