My mother is 80. Although i attended university on athletic scholarship, she was a much better athlete than i was. There were very few sports available to women in the 50’s - so she played field hockey - really a club team at her college. She was better at any number of sports, but this was all that was available to her. In the 70’s, she started a program for girls in my town which put girls into various sports programs. She, a single mother raising two boys, attracted her fair share of girls with problems and issues, and she helped a fair number of them through sports. She was on the right side of history - imagine how i felt when young women i didn’t know came up to me back then and said your mother us getting me to express myself for the first time, or she is saving my life. There was so little athletic opportunity for women at the time. But even then, note it was a struggle - there wasnt even NCAA basketball for women. Last week, at her assisted living facilty in Florida, she organized both men and women to watch the softball finals, and these elderly folks had a wonderful time cheering the women. She knows women have come a long way, but have more room to grow.
So now the comment about those who oppose transgender athletes (who identify as womem, but by reasonable scientific measures applicable to athletic prowess are male). Look, no one wants teens to feel bad about themselves, but favoring this very tiny minority has a very negative impact on women’s sports, which are only just getting there in terms of recognition and opportunity. Look at the practical reality. Put a solid 5”10 190 pound notionally male athlete who identifies as female in the batters box, and you will see either a ridiculous amount of home runs or new records for walks, really negatively impacting what is becoming a great and popular game. The social justice narrative shouldnt prevail over hard facts and consequence. That is the way to end up on the wrong side of history.
