2 weeks Ago By The Gazette editorial board
Just for the moment, set aside superheated subjects like “misgendering,” proper pronouns or whether trans people belong in uniform. On one aspect of the Great Gender Debate, reasonable people should be able to agree: Biological men should not compete in women’s sports. And biological boys in their teens should be barred from doing so in sports at school.
To restate the obvious, sports is all about physical competition. If there were no wall of separation between the sexes on the track, in the pool or on the court or playing field, most biological girls would be sidelined. Letting some biological males hop over that wall on the premise they identify as females is fundamentally unfair to all of the biological females who passionately want to compete.
It’s the one case in which “separate but equal” not only is justifiable but also enjoys wide support — on both sides of the divide. Just consider the enthusiasm for Colorado’s new professional women’s soccer team or the momentum building for a WNBA franchise in the state. Which is why a coalition of public school educators in our state is calling on the Colorado High School Activities Association to prevent biological boys from playing girls’ sports.
As The Denver Gazette reported this week, some 60 school leaders signed a letter to the organization — CHSSA oversees prep sports programs — contending action is warranted as a “matter of safety and fairness for our female athletes” and also so Colorado school sports policy “aligns with recent federal directives that reinforce the protection of women’s sports under Title IX.” The educators and elected school officials assert in their letter that current CHSSA rules allow transgender athletes to participate in sports based on gender identity rather than biological sex. That conflicts with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump requiring the U.
S. Department of Education to crack down on educational institutions that allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports, and to withhold funding from entities that fail to comply. “The implications for CHSSA are unmistakable,” the letter states.
“By maintaining policies that permit boys to compete as girls, CHSSA risks exposing Colorado schools to federal investigations, the potential loss of critical funding, and legal liability under Title IX.” The letter’s authors raise a serious concern about the potential for federal sanctions as well as litigation against Colorado schools. But their most compelling argument is a point of principle.
The coalition wrote that their demand for rule changes is rooted in a “fundamental commitment” to female athletes — that girls’ sports exist to provide equitable opportunities for competition, achievement and personal growth. We agree. Make no mistake, all the strides by girls and women in sports over the past half century are on the line.
Yet, as also noted in The Denver Gazette’s report, CHSSA has been curiously noncommittal on how it will respond to the new directives from Washington. That’s troubling. Even if you ignore the absurdity of lowering the river rather than raising the bridge — to make way for what is at most a handful of professed teen trans athletes — there remains an undeniable, underlying truth: Males and females are physically different — yet both sexes are endowed with a desire to compete and excel as athletes.
Colorado’s girls must have an opportunity to fulfill that desire — in their own safe space. We urge CHSSA to support, and embrace, their quest. The Gazette Editorial Board.
