June 3, 2023 By: Mark Knudson

“Trust the Science” should apply in the Trans Athlete debate, too

There’s too much politics in sports. Heck, there’s too much politics in life anymore.

All of it.

But we all have to play. We don’t have a choice, because we’re all impacted.

As someone who lands in the lefthanded batter’s box on most issues, it’s easy to ask people to simply “trust the science” on things like vaccines and climate issues, and be comfortable with your stance. Trusting the science doesn’t feel like it’s being political.

Science is Apolitical. It’s just science.

However, these days some southpaws aren’t as good at simply trusting the science as they were say, during the COVID pandemic.

The entire “trans athletes” debate has become a full blown political battle. If you’re against athletes who were born with male genitalia being able to “identify” as female and participate in girls or women’s sports, then you’re supposed to be firmly planted in the righthanded batter’s box. According to the script, you voted for Trump, hate all immigrants and believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

It’s all lumped together for many lefty’s…the same one’s who spent more than a year yelling, “trust the science” at the top of their lungs the moment the COVID vaccine became available…and every single time someone on the right wants to debate climate change.

Yet many of those same southpaws are quick to label someone a bigot for simply trusting the science on the trans athlete issue.

So it’s fair to ask: Where’s the common sense in all of this? How come it’s permissible to trust science – and biology is a science – on some issues but not others?

ESPN’s Samantha Ponder was one of the most recent voices to question allowing biological males who have choose to identify as female to compete in female sports. She was instantly branded as “hateful,” “ignorant” and of course, a bigot by many lefty’s in print and elsewhere. Forever a professional, Ponder had a concise and well stated reply: “Biology is not bigotry. Loving people does not require the absence of boundaries,” she tweeted.

And that’s the most important point in all of this.

Taking the stance that biological males should compete in male sports is not close to the same as saying that it’s okay to discriminate against those in the LBGQT community. Many people who are transexual live in constant fear, which is an appalling indictment of our current society. No one should be afraid to be who they are, and no one should suffer any form of discrimination for who they love or how they choose to live their lives. Those in the LBGQT community should have all the same basic rights, freedoms and opportunities as everyone else.

However, participating in sports is not a “right.”

Being talented enough to compete in anything is something that every person – regardless of gender or gender identification – has to earn. At the outset, the playing fields are supposed to be level for everyone. But are the playing fields really level for a female student-athlete who has to compete against a biological male because that person chooses to identify as female?

Those (far?) left of the mainstream have chosen to make this a political fight, which is too bad. Again, no one is saying that people who choose to identify has different in any way should not be treated fairly.

Human rights are human rights.

But making the choice to compete is sports does – and should – come with parameters that all competitors must adhere to equally.

LBGTQ individuals are not forced to enter into sporting arenas. Like everyone, they can choose to do so. And in doing so, they’re making the choice to abide by the parameters of that particular activity. If that’s not acceptable, they’re most certainly free to choose to pursue a different activity – hopefully with a level playing field – where they feel more comfortable.

That’s having equal rights. And bigots don’t believe in equal rights.

If you truly trust the science, it should be pretty hard to make the argument that biological males – with biological advantages – should be allowed to participate in sports set up for biological females.

That’s not a level playing field. It’s not having equal rights, either.

Ponder, and those who feel like she does, are not all bigots. True bigots show zero tolerance for anything or anyone who is different from them or who they feel threatened by. They don’t want those with different origins, or skin colors or sexual orientations to have the same “inalienable rights” they have. That’s a few dozen football fields away from Ponder’s (and many others) stance on trans athletes. There are plenty of rational, fair-minded people who didn’t vote for Trump who believe that males should compete against males, and that females should compete against other females.

On equal footing.

With equal funding, equal opportunities and equal accessibility.

That doesn’t mean they’re bigots.

It just means they trust the science.