Sports help overcome challenges, don’t take that away

Iwill never forget the last race of my varsity swimming career as I breathlessly finished the last of 66 lengths of the pool (“the mile”). I didn’t win the race, but I got a personal best time and shared that victory with my teammates.

The opportunity to be a student athlete in college shaped the rest of my life. I made lasting friendships. I got to travel. I was the most physically fit I have ever been in my life. I had an outlet for the stress of college life. I was able to push myself physically and mentally with new challenges, like becoming a distance swimmer in my freshman year.

Now, the opportunity for other women and girls to have this same experience is in danger because of President Joe Biden’s executive order and the proposed Equality Act. We need a state law protecting women’s sports — for women — here in Pennsylvania. Thankfully, five female state representatives have introduced the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.

This legislation will ensure that athletic teams designated for women or girls will not be open to any biological male. Fairness and opportunities for everyone would be preserved, since all males, whether they identify as transgender or not, can still compete onmen’s teams.

Athletics are extremely important for women. In fact, 96% of female CEOs played competitive sports. Student athletes have higher graduation rates, better time management skills, greater involvement in volunteering and higher active academic engagement than their non-athletic peers.

If biological men who identify as women are allowed to compete as women in sports, many women will be shut out of these opportunities. Opportunities to gain leadership skills and conquer difficult challenges preparing them to lead companies, run for office and start businesses.

If just one of our male distance swimmers identified as a woman onmy team, they would have been faster than all of the women. How many of the slower women entered that year would have been kept from competing due to space and having the opportunity to achieve a personal best time?

This is not speculation — one NCAA male runner recently began identifying as female, switched to the female division, and won a national championship.

Women deserve a fair playing field. The science proves what we already know, that biological males have greater bone density, muscle mass and cardiovascular capacity than women. These advantages continue even after men who identify as women choose to undergo hormone treatment. Women won’t stand a chance if biological men are allowed to compete not just on the men’s team, but on the women’s as well.

Most female athletes never make it to the medal podium. If we allow men to participate in women’ s sports, how many women will not even make it to the bench?