Sometimes it takes an athlete to notice the condescension and hypocrisy.
Red-state legislators have moved quickly on two issues. One is abortion. They are taking away from young women the power to decide whether to stop a pregnancy, even a very early one or one that is a result of rape. Red states are making it illegal to offer abortion information to young women or for those young women to travel to acquire an abortion. The other issue is youth sports. Red state legislatures are passing laws to stop trans girls from competing in girls' sports. They claim to be protecting girls.
Jack Mullen brings an athlete's perspective to the issue. He was a standout high school athlete. Now, well into his 70s, he stays active playing sports. We are hearing from politicians and opinionated commentators and we are hearing from Riley Gaines, a swimmer who competes at the collegiate elite level against trans swimmer Lia Thomas, but we are not hearing much from high school athletes themselves. The fuss over the trans girls in high school athletics has been a top down issue, not a bottoms up one. It serves the purpose of the legislators--but what about the girls?
Jack Mullen isn't a girl and he isn't young anymore, but he is in better touch with the competitive spirit of young female athletes than most observers. Red-state legislation is condescending and misplaced.
Guest Post by Jack Mullen
There is no easier punching bag these days than transgender youth, especially with the growing resentment concerning boys, transitioning to trans girls, playing women’s sports. With wages up, unemployment low, inflation taming, many in the nation have decided that what is eating away with America’s soul: Trans youth. How could anything be so unfair as trans girls playing sports against our sweet little daughters and granddaughters.
I never expected this resentment to reach the level expressed by Bill Maher and his guest, Piers Morgan, on Maher’s HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Maher and Morgan see young girls as damsels in distress. These two gentlemen became apoplectic with just the mention of young girls competing against trans girls. Maher thinks much of the gain that Title IX achieved beginning in 1972, putting women’s sports on equal basis with men's sports is lost. He claimed women's sports is now being undermined by trans girls. And if it were not for his British accent, I would have thought Maher’s guest was a Tennessee state legislator. Morgan lost his British cool as he aimed his ire towards those who would dare allow trans girls to participate in women's sports. Morgan and Maher never allowed the third guest, Congresswoman Katie Porter, a chance to rebut.
If men like Bill Maher and Piers Morgan are so worried about young girls not being able to compete, I wonder if they ever tried standing toe to toe with a female athlete. I have.
As Peter Sage is wont to spice up his guest post with photos, he often uses the below photo of me when I laced them up at Medford High. Ever since high school, I have continued playing pick-up basketball games, mainly because I preferred basketball over golf, a sport I considered to be a little too bourgeoise for my taste.
Mullen, 1965, jumping to catch a pass from Bill "Earthquake" Enyart, a fellow high school senior.
I recall a certain pick-up game when I lived in San Francisco. Sharon worked at the front desk at a new gym on the campus of the University of California, San Francisco. She showed up and decided to guard me on one of our weekend games. Being a hot-shot male, I thought, good deal! I can loaf a little on defense and not go all-out on offense. Maybe take one or two easy shots. On my team’s first possession, I waited for the rebound when suddenly Sharon slipped in front of me, stuck out her rear end, and sent me to kingdom come.
“OK, Sharon, game on!”
As I was guarding her and had my head turned, Sharon backed doored me, received a pass. I thought I could recover enough to stop her at the basket. I did get to the basket, but Sharon went underneath and blindly threw in a reverse layup.
After the customary post-game fist-bump, I asked Sharon where she played college basketball.
“I did not play in college”.
“Ok, then, where did you play in high school?”
“I played high school in San Mateo, but never was a starter.”
Later that summer, at a family reunion in Medford, we had a pick-up basketball game. My niece Dinah, who played at Medford High, kept perfectly positioning herself for rebounds and bumping her poor 16-year-old son farther away from the basket than even Sharon had knocked me.
I recant these stories to say young girls are not the damsel in distress that the chivalrous Piers Morgans, Bill Mahers, and so many White male brethren worry about.
Hey! Piers and Bill, young girls can hold their own against men and boys. I put my money on the idea that they can hold their own against trans girls as well.If anyone doubts me, just ask the girls who compete in sports if they are afraid of playing against trans girls. Go ahead! Ask them! Let them speak for themselves. They have as much a right to participate in this discussion as do the distraught Messers. Morgan and Maher and their ilk
There are gyms in most state legislatures and in the House of Representatives. In Washington, young Congressmen love to play ball at noon. If allowed, the likes of a Sharon could teach them a thing or two about women competing in sports. How I would love to see the looks on those congressional prophets-of- doom faces after a Sharon knocks them around like I had been in that UCSF gym. I dare say most female athletes would love to see it too.
Nice post Jack, totally agree. I am sure we are talking about 1% of all high school jocks that may be trans... yes, let's listen to girls that play what they think, not old white guys that still think those little women need to be protect. I guess that is why those same white guys think women need to be "protected" from making decisions about their reproductive health decisions too.
As a 78 year old Oregonian who has played sports all my life it seems pretty laughable that the far right has a problem with transgender sports...My guess is that folks like McCarthy and DeScantimonius have problems with any kind of athletic competition. Nothing wrong with that but it is a somewhat weak response...What could possibly be wrong with those who never played sports but are afraid that a woman may whup their arse@!