Hoffman is misleading us about transgender athletes
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman and I can agree that state lawmakers face critical issues this legislative session. COVID-19 presents challenges regarding how to educate a million students, how to regrow the economy, and much more.
So many yearn for a sense of normalcy. Athletics can provide that to many young Arizonans. Hoffman and I can probably agree on that too.
Every athlete should have the chance to compete on a level playing field. It builds character, confidence and perseverance.
Every single Arizona student deserves this opportunity, but Hoffman isn’t considering every student. She has focused on a select group of students, falsely claiming they could be left out of the game. When, in reality, no one is left on the sidelines.
As the head of Arizona education, Hoffman has an obligation to get the facts right. The Save Women’s Sports Act proposed last session in no way prohibits any student from playing sports. It merely clarifies on what team a student will play. All can play.
We cannot ignore the weight of athletics for so many girls. Sports represents much more than, as Hoffman puts it, “building relationships and ultimately, participating in fun activities with peers.” For many girls, it’s a chance to showcase the result of endless hard work. It’s a trophy hard-fought. It’s grit and determination, proving to oneself that commitment pays off.
For many, it’s a scholarship, their only chance to get into the college of their dreams, and a step toward professional success. A full 90% of female CEOs played competitive sports on their journey to the top. So, yes, not making the team, or losing a title to a biological male can be crushing — and it’s unfair.
Hoffman warns of “invasive medical exams” that never were part of legislation; another fact someone in Hoffman’s position should get right. Sex-specific sports teams protect women and girl athletes from the unfair practice of competing against biological boys and men. It preserves the long-held, scientifically based understanding that biological boys and men have an unfair advantage over girls and women athletes.
Men have more testosterone than women, leading to thicker bones and greater skeletal muscle mass. Men have more lung capacity, and produce more fast-twitch muscle fibers, which helps make men stronger and faster. Consider this: Olympic champion Tori Bowie’s 100-meter lifetime best was beaten 15,000 times by men and boys in a single year. The same is true of Olympic champ Allyson Felix’s 400-meter best.
A former Arizona high school athlete named Grace testified last session that, despite intense training, her softball team didn’t stand a chance against the opposing team led by a biological male. And they knew it before the first ball was pitched.
Female athletes in other states have taken the issue to court. Among them is a Connecticut track star who lost her first place standing to a biological boy — whose track record on the boy’s team was mediocre.
But efforts to protect women’s sports are in limbo as athletes wait for the outcome of a legal challenge to Idaho’s new law, as well as the expected litigation President Biden’s recent Executive Order will draw. Until the courts speak, Arizona will focus on other pressing issues at hand.
One more thing Hoffman and I can agree on: No student should be bullied, and suicide is always a tragedy. We should continue to provide the necessary help to anyone experiencing depression. But destroying fairness for women is not the solution.
When we ignore biological reality, women get hurt. Sex-specific sports teams protect women and their hardfought achievements.