Male-Born Athletes Take Championship Titles in 5 States in Girl's Sports: 'It's Heartbreaking'
The landscape of women's sports has changed dramatically in the past few years. The changes have become the most visible in women's track and field where high school boys identifying as girls perform way ahead of the rest of the competition.
According to the Washington Times, five biological males who identify as female won girls' state titles at outdoor-season spring meets in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon, and Washington.
Three other male-born competitors placed at the state championships in Connecticut, Hawaii, and Washington, according to stats tracked by the Independent Council on Women's Sports, or ICONS.
"It's tragic to witness the absurdity of boys dominating girls' high school sports, with no leadership in these states stepping up to defend girls," the ICONS co-founder Marshi Smith told The Washington Times.
The outlet points out that these biologically male athletes are outpacing females drastically.
For example, Lizzy Bidwell, a junior at Connecticut's Conard High School, won the conference's triple jump championship with a jump of 36 feet, 8 inches. That's 14 inches longer than the second-place finisher.
And Maine Coast Waldorf School sophomore Soren Stark-Chessa took first place in the 800-meter race for the state championships with a time of 2.19.72. That time is competitive with several collegiate female athletes.
The differences in performance are astounding and athletes, former athletes, and even lawmakers say it does not make a level playing field for athletes with female DNA.
"It's heartbreaking that girls across half the country must consistently compete on an unlevel playing field, with no policymakers defending their hard work and accomplishments," said Smith.
"We cannot prioritize inclusion over fairness and safety," said Riley Gaines, a former NCAA Division I swimmer and outspoken advocate for women's fairness in sports. "That's why sports categories are created in the first place."
Gaines had to share the podium with Lia Thomas, who formerly competed as Will Thomas when the trans athlete swam for the University of Kentucky. The two tied for fifth place in the NCAA's 2022 women's 200 freestyle.
Thomas later went on to take first place in the women's 500 freestyle, becoming the first trans athlete to win an NCAA national championship.
"I was impacted, and I saw the tears," Gaines said. "I saw the tears from girls who missed out on being named an all-American by one place."
So far, 24 states have passed measures to protect fairness in women's sports by barring male-born athletes from competing with girls.
New Hampshire recently passed House Bill 1205 in both GOP-controlled houses with no Democratic votes.
"It's not just whether it affects five girls or six girls," said former state Rep. Casey Crane. "It only takes one transgender student, a male student, to hurt a female student or take a scholarship away from a female student."
The legislation now sits on Gov. Chris Sununu's desk waiting to be signed. He has not given any recent indication if he will sign it but told WUMR-TV in March, "I fundamentally don't believe that biological boys should be competing in girls' sports. I think it's dangerous."
"I think the voices around fairness and safety are being heard not just here in New Hampshire, but all across the country," Sununu said. "And something that we're going to take very seriously."
Meanwhile, many are standing up for common sense logic. In one display, a crowd at the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association's 2A, 3A, 4A State Championship Meet in Tacoma who cheered loudly for second place finisher Lauren Matthew but booed a male-born athlete who won the competition by a full second.
That transgender runner told reporters after the win that it was, "Just another day in the office. Nothing special for me. I just run."
And the allies of trans athletes aren't backing down. TikTok recently banned an ad by XX-XY Athletics clothing brand citing that it breached community guidelines due to its message of protecting women's sports.
TikTok removed this ad from their platform for violating community guidelines. Shocker.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 19, 2024
Should would be a shame if everyone shared this clip and bought from @xx_xyathletics pic.twitter.com/UVq3XaDsFN
Supporters are pushing for transgender athletes to play on the field of their choosing, saying the playing field is level as long as the male-born athletes follow the rules and give themselves enough time to take hormone replacements. But critics point out that physiological differences between male and female bone structure, heart size, and lung capacity are a few examples of unfair advantage that can't be mitigated by cross-sex hormones.
As CBN News reported, in March, Riley Gaines joined forces with 15 other athletes to take the NCAA to court in the ongoing battle between transgender activism and women's rights in sports.
The female athletes have asked to be awarded damages for "pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, suffering and anxiety, expense costs and other damages due to defendants' wrongful conduct." They also demand the NCAA rescind trophies given to trans athletes and award them to the female competitors who would have won them otherwise.
"The escalating loss of athletic opportunities for girls is an injustice that must end," Smith said.
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