The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Jennifer Gingrich and Christy Hammer are co-directors of New England Women’s Solidarity, a Scarborough-based feminist organization dedicated to the protection of women’s sex-based rights.
The public battle between Maine’s Democratic governor and the Republican president of the United States over transgender athletes in girls’ sports has miscast this debate as a politically partisan issue.
We believe there is nothing inherently right-wing about acknowledging the conflicts between women’s rights and trans rights. Polling shows that the majority of American voters, including most Democrats, want women and girls to have single-sex sports.
While we understand the desire to take a stand against the current administration, we can’t help thinking that this issue is not the best hill for Gov. Janet Mills and her party to make that stand upon.
Many of us who are concerned about laws and policies that replace biological sex with gender identity are lifelong feminists and Democrats ourselves; we’ve fought for causes like same-sex marriage and reproductive rights. We never expected to find ourselves labeled right-wing for believing that there are real consequences to being born female that can’t be identified into.
We don’t believe it is “anti-trans” to demand fairness and safety for women and girls. Of course we want everyone, regardless of how they identify, to have equal opportunities in employment, education, housing and health care. Every member of our diverse population should feel safe in our Maine community.
We just can’t ignore that male anatomy comes with significant speed and strength advantages like larger hearts and lungs, more fast-twitch muscle fibers, denser bones and proportionally longer limbs.
Not long ago, we all knew that such characteristics make it unfair (and sometimes unsafe) for male athletes to compete against women and girls. So while all students should have the chance to participate in sports, it makes sense for everyone to compete against their own biological sex.
Our grandmothers fought for Title IX to give girls the chance to excel in their own sports, and we won’t stand by now while our daughters are told they must sacrifice their chances in order to make another group happy. Why not encourage boys’ teams to welcome gender nonconforming males?
Those who oppose single-sex sports have stoked outrage by claiming that girls whose sex is in doubt would be subjected to “genital inspections.” In reality, the sex verification test for such rare cases is a cheek swab.
Another frequent argument against fairness is “There aren’t that many trans athletes.” The website shewon.org has listed over 1,100 women’s and girls’ medals around the world that it says have been won by transgender athletes so far. How many girls must be cheated before we say they matter?
What are we teaching young girls when we tell them they’re bigots if they feel uncomfortable undressing in the school locker room beside transgender identifying athletes who claim female identities? When did we stop telling girls that they have the right to say “no” when it comes to their own bodies?
It’s been disappointing to see even legacy feminist organizations fail to prioritize women’s rights when they conflict with trans activists’ demands. They won’t acknowledge women like those in prison who say they’re being harassed and assaulted by trans-identifying convicts now living in their cells.
According to a recent study, 86 percent of women in prison are survivors of sexual violence, and being forced to shower and sleep alongside biological males should not be part of their punishment.
Those who think that “transgender” refers to people who’ve undergone sex reassignment surgery should know that in many instances all it takes to get access to female spaces, from locker rooms to emergency shelters, is to self-identify as a woman.
It should surprise no one when predators seize that opportunity. We’ve now seen multiple cases of transgender identifying males claiming female identities and being permitted to reside in women’s prisons and homeless shelters, only to be charged with sexually assaulting women in them.
There are unique vulnerabilities that come with being born female, and sometimes, biological sex must take precedence over gender identity. That’s just common sense to us, and Maine Democrats would do well to remember that no political party has a monopoly on it.
