USA Gymnastics policy changes allowing trans athletes to compete in disciplines aligning with gender identity without sex reassignment surgery or hormone treatment is a disgusting violation of women's rights to appease a minority.
In a familiar tale of the perennial battle to establish super-inclusive safe spaces at the expense of logic or the safety and rights of others, USA Gymnastics (USAG) on Tuesday pledged to remove “surgical sex reassignment, legal gender recognition, and hormone therapy requirements” as requirements for transgender athletes to compete in disciplines they consider align with their gender identity.
The new policy changes effectively gives any athlete born male but identifying as a transgender woman free reign to campaign alongside women without having to forego the inconvenience of anything that might give their claim to be a member of the opposite sex any shred of credibility.
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The “emotional and psychological” safety of transgender gymnasts or of anyone who might be offended at medical procedures, legal documents, logic or, heaven forbid, common sense, was ludicriously equated to the physical, emotional and psychological safety of other gymnasts by USAG CEO Li Li Leung in a statement released announcing the policy changes.
“Our top priority is and must always be the safety of our athletes, including their emotional and psychological safety,” Leung babbled in the press release. “Inclusivity plays an important role in creating safe and welcoming environments for our community members, and this policy will help ensure athletes who identify as transgender or non-binary feel at home in our sport.”
Leung may attempt to dress the matter up as implementing one big, cosy, marshmellow-walled haven impenetrable by the voice of reason for transgender gymnasts, but in reality, the announcement is nothing more than gender politics point-scoring to play up to the perpetually-offended progressive movement.
A closer look reveals that the timing of the USA Gymnastics woke faux-pas flex press release on Wednesday came slap bang in the middle of Transgender Awareness Week which, for those not aware, is typically celebrated in the second week of November.
Only USAG aren’t definitely unaware that their cuddling up to the endlessly principled teachings of the progressive gospel isn’t safe, but rather a serious violation of the rights and dignity of the women and young girls in their care.
The full and frankly mind-boggling manifesto reads that USAG intends to promote an “inclusive environment for athletes of all gender identities, while protecting the privacy of trans and non-binary athletes.”
Protecting privacy!? Has it not occurred to USAG that not only will female gymnasts be forced to welcome a legally-recognized male into the team in the name of ‘inclusivity’, but the new policy would potentially expose them to contact with a gymnast with the physical and hormonal attributes of a male in changing rooms, when rooming in hotels, or in showers, whether they like it or not, seriously compromising their privacy and dignity.
And for what? So a transgender gymnast who couldn’t be bothered to go through paperwork or muster the effort to undergo a medical procedure to at least adequately fit into a leotard can feel ‘safe’ and ‘included’ at the expense of the feelings of those around them?
Is compromising the comfort and safety of young female gymnasts really acceptable procedure for an institution still reeling from one of the largest sexual abuse scandals in sporting history?
In 2018, USAG filed for bankrupcy owing in part to a stream of lawsuits targeting the organization's alleged negligence over the sexual abuse of dozens of national team members committed by disgraced former team physician and convicted pedophile Larry Nassar, some claiming the organization attempted to cover up years of serious assaults and encouraged or coerced his victims to remain silent on their suffering.
Nassar, who served an 18-year tenure as USAG national medical coordinator from 1996 to 2014, was sentenced to 175 years in jail after being found guilty on numerous child sex charges dating back to 1992.
It is effortlessly ironic that USAG should take a course of action to create “safe spaces” for the gymnasts under their care by allowing practically all of them to be further exposed to contemporaries legally and scientifically recognized as men.
In gymnastic events where physical strength plays a significant role in the chances of success, a female gymnast could theoretically dedicate her entire life to the sport only to be pipped at the post for a place on the podium by someone significantly stronger, but who just fancied competing in that discipline, and whose word we're obliged to take so as not to hurt anyone's feelings other than the poor girl prevented from achieving her dreams because of strong-arm 'inclusivity' tactics. How very progressive.
Such arbitrary rule making, which USAG vaguely claims is "based on current medical science" and consistent with unnamed "anti-discrimination legislation", despite not providing any further evidence, should be stamped out before the spurious spread of ultra-inclusivity affects other sports where women's records and achievements could potentially be wiped out and its competitors seriously hurt by the inclusion of transgender athletes benefitting from hormonal and physical advantages over their peers.
Perhaps the most laughable line of the entire shambles of a statement came from Kim Kranz, USAG's Chief of Athlete Wellness, when trying to explain their “commitment to help create an inclusive environment” within the sport.
“Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in gymnastics with the knowledge that they will be safe and have their dignity respected,” Kranz claimed.
It seems USAG's respect for dignity, safety and comfort is a luxury afforded only to those that campaign to be accepted and treated just as everyone else, but whose plan to achieve such is by being treated as an exception, all at the expense of the rights of the very young girls and women they purport to protect.
By Danny Armstrong