Letter: Reader Wants Fairness

Dear Editor,

Remember when girls were excluded from boys activities via the sign on the wooden club house door, “No Girls Allowed”? Acclaimed female transgenders want to cross the line into girls and women’s sports.

Currently in the Indiana Legislative House there is HB 1041 that is supporting sports for girls and women and excluding male born transgender females from participating in female sports.

One protester against this bill, a 22-year-old transgender woman from Martinsville, Indiana, called the bill “unfair” and said it “ruins the whole spirit of sport.” She also said that, “There is no epidemic of trans girls dominating girls sports. It’s a made up, non-problem just to attack us.”

The author of HB1041, Rep. Michelle Davis said, “It’s preserving fairness in girls’ sports competitions.

As early as 2016 male born transgender females have participated in girls high school and collegiate sports including: hurdles, sprinting, wrestling, cycling and weightlifting that have shattered women’s sports records. These female athletes have lost out on scholarships, local, state and national championships due to female transgenders participating in the female sports arena.

In 1972 Congress passed the Title IX Law in supporting girls and women in sports. This law really changed the sports arena with the allowance and recognition of girls getting involved in sports. From elementary schools through high school to collegiate teams on to professional women’s sports the equity grew and flourished.

In 2011 the university of California-Los Angeles law school’s Williams Institute conducted research on sexual orientation and gender identity and reported there were approximately 700,000 Americans identifying as transgender. More than likely the numbers of transgenders has grown.

With these facts in mind, it is only fair for the transgender athletes, both genders, to create their own teams and leagues.

Mari Briggs

Sheridan