Donald Trump Jr. has waded into the debate on transgender student-athletes, calling the first- and second-place finishes by two transgender girls at the Connecticut girl’s state track championship a “grave injustice.”
Terry Miller, of Bloomfield High School, and Andraya Yearwood, of Cromwell High School, won the top two spots in the 55-meter dash, with Miller setting a new state indoor record of 6.95 seconds, and Yearwood finishing in 7.01 seconds, according to The Associated Press. The third-place winner, Chelsea Mitchell, of Canton High School, finished with a time of 7.23 seconds.
Miller also won the 300-meter dash in a time of 40.13 seconds, ahead of her cisgender teammate Jillian Mars.
But many parents, as well as social conservatives, have objected to Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete for sports teams based on their gender identity.
Both athletes have garnered negative attention, with many arguing that the girls’ biological makeup gives them an unfair advantage over cisgender women athletes.
Donald Trump Jr. is one such critic, tweeting that he feels “sorry” for the other competitors.
I feel so sorry for the young ladies who trained their whole lives to be the best in their state and to hopefully attain scholarships etc etc… this is a grave injustice. https://t.co/cduhojza4B
Selina Soule, the eighth-place finisher at the state meet, told the AP that she was happy for Yearwood and Miller for being true to themselves, but felt that she missed out on an opportunity to compete in front of college coaches because she missed the cutoff for the New England Championships by two places — places that were taken by Miller and Yearwood.
Joanna Harper, a medical physicist who studies transgender health care and a transgender runner herself, argues that athletes’ participation in sports should be based on their hormone levels, which will vary based on individual health factors and the length of time that a person has been transitioning.
“The gender identity doesn’t matter, it’s the testosterone levels,” said Harper. “Trans girls should have the right to compete in sports. But cisgender girls should have the right to compete and succeed, too. How do you balance that? That’s the question.”
But Harper also warned that the issue cannot be solved using a one-size-fits-all mentality. For instance, she wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post, when it comes to long distance running, cisgender athletes are on equal footing with transgender athletes who have successfully transitioned. But when it comes to sprinting, those with more muscle mass may have an advantage.
Transgender females may gain advantages, due to their height, in sports like basketball, but taller individuals would be less likely to succeed in a sport like gymnastics.
When it comes to allowing Miller and Yearwood to compete against cisgender girls, CIAC Executive Director Glenn Lungarini defended the interscholastic league’s policy.
“This is about someone’s right to compete,” he said. “I don’t think this is that different from other classes of people, who, in the not too distant past, were not allowed to compete. I think it’s going to take education and understanding to get to that point on this issue.”
He also said the CIAC is not in a position to perform hormone testing on athletes. As a result, the league relies on schools to tell them how students identify.
On Monday, the Nassau County Legislature approved a measure reinstating a ban prohibiting female-designated sports teams with transgender members from using county-owned athletic facilities.
The measure now heads to Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman for his signature into law.
Blakeman previously attempted to issue an executive order instituting the ban in March, but a state judge overturned that order two months later.
In that May ruling, Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Francis Ricigliano said Blakeman had overstepped his authority in issuing the order, usurping powers delegated to the county legislature.
Republicans in the New Hampshire Senate approved three House bills seeking to restrict transgender rights and curb LGBTQ visibility in schools.
Now, all three bills head to the desk of Republican Gov. Chris Sununu for his signature into law.
The first bill, which passed along party lines in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, bars transgender females in grades 5 to 12 from participating in girls' sports in public schools, reports the New Hampshire Bulletin.
Sununu, like other supporters of the bill, has previously endorsed the bill's underlying tenets, namely, that allowing transgender athletes assigned male at birth to compete on female-designated sports teams is inherently unfair to cisgender female athletes.
A New York judge has struck down a county executive's attempt to impose a ban prohibiting transgender athletes on female-designated sports teams from using county sports facilities on technical grounds, arguing that such a ban would have to be passed legislatively to be valid.
On May 11, the Nassau County Supreme Court struck down County Executive Bruce Blakeman's executive order prohibiting trans-inclusive sports teams from using nearly 100 facilities, including ballfields, basketball and tennis courts, swimming pools, and ice rinks, in the suburban Long Island county.
Under the order, sports teams designated for women or girls would have to affirm that they do not have any players who were assigned male at birth in order to access those facilities. Those who could not verify that fact, or continued to allow transgender athletes to compete, would have to seek out alternative venues outside of the county for practice, games, or matches.
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Donald Trump Jr. has waded into the debate on transgender student-athletes, calling the first- and second-place finishes by two transgender girls at the Connecticut girl’s state track championship a “grave injustice.”
Terry Miller, of Bloomfield High School, and Andraya Yearwood, of Cromwell High School, won the top two spots in the 55-meter dash, with Miller setting a new state indoor record of 6.95 seconds, and Yearwood finishing in 7.01 seconds, according to The Associated Press. The third-place winner, Chelsea Mitchell, of Canton High School, finished with a time of 7.23 seconds.
Miller also won the 300-meter dash in a time of 40.13 seconds, ahead of her cisgender teammate Jillian Mars.
But many parents, as well as social conservatives, have objected to Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete for sports teams based on their gender identity.
Both athletes have garnered negative attention, with many arguing that the girls’ biological makeup gives them an unfair advantage over cisgender women athletes.
Donald Trump Jr. is one such critic, tweeting that he feels “sorry” for the other competitors.
Selina Soule, the eighth-place finisher at the state meet, told the AP that she was happy for Yearwood and Miller for being true to themselves, but felt that she missed out on an opportunity to compete in front of college coaches because she missed the cutoff for the New England Championships by two places — places that were taken by Miller and Yearwood.
“We all know the outcome of the race before it even starts; it’s demoralizing,” Soule said.
The issue of transgender inclusion in sports is often a delicate one, as evidenced by the backlash spurred by tennis star Martina Navratilova after she argued that transgender women should not be allowed to compete against cisgender women because they have an unfair biological advantage.
Joanna Harper, a medical physicist who studies transgender health care and a transgender runner herself, argues that athletes’ participation in sports should be based on their hormone levels, which will vary based on individual health factors and the length of time that a person has been transitioning.
“The gender identity doesn’t matter, it’s the testosterone levels,” said Harper. “Trans girls should have the right to compete in sports. But cisgender girls should have the right to compete and succeed, too. How do you balance that? That’s the question.”
But Harper also warned that the issue cannot be solved using a one-size-fits-all mentality. For instance, she wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post, when it comes to long distance running, cisgender athletes are on equal footing with transgender athletes who have successfully transitioned. But when it comes to sprinting, those with more muscle mass may have an advantage.
Transgender females may gain advantages, due to their height, in sports like basketball, but taller individuals would be less likely to succeed in a sport like gymnastics.
When it comes to allowing Miller and Yearwood to compete against cisgender girls, CIAC Executive Director Glenn Lungarini defended the interscholastic league’s policy.
“This is about someone’s right to compete,” he said. “I don’t think this is that different from other classes of people, who, in the not too distant past, were not allowed to compete. I think it’s going to take education and understanding to get to that point on this issue.”
He also said the CIAC is not in a position to perform hormone testing on athletes. As a result, the league relies on schools to tell them how students identify.
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