When we think of athletes of the greatest caliber that compete at the highest levels that set the GOAT (greatest of all time) standard, we think of Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Serena Williams. These athletes have achieved something that may never be duplicated. Their accomplishments are almost super-human.
Every individual athlete, from the recreational runner to the high school tennis player, competes with their categorically matched equals. When Walter Dix lines up next to Usain Bolt for a chance to win, they are competing on a level playing field, and may the best man win.
The Wyoming Legislature overwhelmingly passed a law this past session protecting junior and senior high girls in athletic sports from the modern fad of allowing biological males who claim to be women lining up on the starting line with biological girl athletes to compete for the same prize.
Gov. Mark Gordon allowed this bill to go into law without his signature and called it “draconian” and “discriminatory”.
You may agree with the governor, or you may think that the lines should be drawn somewhere and would prefer to have men compete against men and women continue to compete only against other biological women.
There is an upcoming tennis tournament in Cheyenne put on by the Cheyenne Tennis Association called The Governor’s Cup. This will be the 51st year of the event, and it is sanctioned by the national governing body for the sport of tennis, the United States Tennis Association.
Governor Gordon has said that he would make an appearance, even though he has nothing to do with the event other than the name.
However, a biological male recently signed up to compete in the open women’s competition because he claims to be a real-life woman.
Since this event is sanctioned by the USTA, there are usually high school girls who compete in the open women’s class to help boost their standings in hopes of a brighter opportunity for college scholarships. They will now have to match their skills against a 6-foot 27-year-old biological male to the potential detriment of their collegiate prospects.
This has resulted in this year’s tournament having fewer entrants, the loss of key sponsors and even led to the president of the Cheyenne Tennis Association board to resign out of principle.
At the elite level, all the best athletes in the world are governed by rules set by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
In recent years, the IAAF has dealt with and ruled against athletes that have a higher testosterone level competing against biological females in certain events. The regulations state “[I]t is generally accepted that competition between male and female athletes would not be fair and meaningful and would risk discouraging women from participation in the sport. Therefore, in addition to separate competition categories based on age, the IAAF has also created separate competition categories for male and female athletes.”
In the case brought by Caster Semenya, an Olympic gold medalist, it was concluded that, “Regulations are discriminatory but … such discrimination is a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the aim of what is described as the integrity of female athletics and the upholding of the ‘protected class’ of female athletes in certain events.”
Unfortunately, the issues we see other states dealing with and the woke agenda that is being pushed is not foreign in Wyoming; it is at our front door and we must draw a line.
Are we going to draw the line with the brave female athletes that have withdrawn from this tournament risking their college prospects, the sponsors that have withdrawn their sponsorship, and the CTA board president, who loves tennis, stepping down over this situation? Is the governor going to continue to claim that we discriminate when we don’t allow 6-foot-2 men to compete against girls?
We must draw a line and all take a stand with those who bravely claim that female athletes and sports should be protected. The saying “may the best man win” should not be true of female sports.
