Even people who otherwise support transgender equality often draw the line at transgender women competing against cisgender women. We have a couple of new opinions expressed lately. What makes these more unusual than most is that they are grounded in science.
This charged debate is timely because of a landmark rule change instituted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this year. In Rio, transgender men (female-to-male athletes) will be allowed to compete without any restrictions (based on the sexist assumption, I suppose, that trans men could never dominate their sports). Trans women, meanwhile, are no longer required to undergo gender-reassignment surgery to compete in female divisions, and the previously mandated two-year wait after transitioning has been jettisoned.
Yesterday a commenter tried to lay the creation of transgender identity at the feet of "a loving mommy" who encourages a little boy to play with make-up, nail polish, and cross-dressing while "disparaging male boding activities with a daddy she resents."
This ticked me way the Hell off. Not only does it completely ignore the existence of trans males, it has absolutely no scientific foundation.
Doctors at Boston Children's Hospital combed through their patient records and discovered that 8.2% of the young people treated at the clinic between 2007 and 2015 were being raised by adoptive families. This compares to a rate for the general public of 2.3%.
In the Beginning
Was the Light
And the Light was With God
And the Light was God
World Without End, Amen. Ah, men.
Ah, womyn.
Why must you always set it right?
Why must you always cross the borders in the middle of the night
Before the beginning
You were the Heavens and the Earth
You were the fire in the hearth
And you were born to cross the border in the middle of my heart
Of course you are aware that around the country there are legislative efforts to force transgender people to use the bathroom and locker rooms reserved for the sex we were assigned at birth. In some places, it is phrased rather as requiring those facilities to be segregated by chromosomes.
Awkward, that. As a society, we have never determined assignment of sex at birth by a test of chromosomes. I'm 68 years old and, as far as I know, I have never had my chromosomes tested. Ever.
I find it stranger still that the forces calling for this anti-transgender discrimination have such little regard for science in general. These are people who believe the universe was created between 6000 and 7000 years ago, that a woman was created from the rib of a man, and that Jesus rode to Sunday School on the back of a dinosaur.
When I was a lad, I often heard jokes about blacks, Latinos and gays, who were regarded as amusing because of their supposed inferiority and defectiveness. Today most people would be embarrassed and offended by such humor. But, at least in some places, there is one group that is still a safe source of yuks: transgender people.
Of course you are aware that around the country there are legislative efforts to force transgender people to use the bathroom and locker rooms reserved for the sex we were assigned at birth. In some places, it is phrased rather as requiring those facilities to be segregated by chromosomes.