by Alannah Hurley
Recently, a transgender boy who identifies as a girl, joined an all-girls track team, competed in state competitions, and came in first on multiple times during these competitions. “Andraya Yearwood, is the boy and his success knocked out other top contenders who are authentic girls. Yearwood has undergone no cross-sex hormone treatments in the hope of transitioning to a female body. This young man has essentially stolen first-place positions that in fairness would belong to biological girls.”
This is not the first account of a transgender male, taking advantage of gender identity freedom. There has been a recent push among some transactivists to have the term “sex” in Title IX, redefined as “gender identity.” Title IX was created to help women. It states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
Pro-family advocates and feminists may not agree about much, but a surprising number agree that redefining “sex” to mean “gender identity” is a truly fundamental shift in American law and society. It also strips women of their privacy, threatens their physical safety, undercuts the means by which women can achieve educational equality, and ultimately works to erase women’s very existence. It not only revokes the very rights and protections Congress enacted specifically to secure women’s access to education, but does so in order to extend Title IX to cover men claiming to be women …
Here are just a few of the ways that the redefining of the term “sex” to mean “gender identity” could be incredibly harmful to women.
- Any male faculty member, employee, administrator or any other man that strolls onto a campus of a Title IX institution, could just show up in a women’s dormitory, shower, or locker room, whenever he wants. This strips women completely of their privacy and makes them more vulnerable to sexual assault and/or harassment. In other words, any male that wants to stare down or ogle your wife, daughter, sister, mother, girlfriend, aunt, best friend, etc. while she’s changing or sleeping or using the restroom, could do so as on any Title IX institution and it would no longer be considered an offense. “Redefining “sex” to mean “gender identity” effectively decriminalizes this predatory sexual activity and gives a get-out-of-jail free card to any predator who smiles and says, “But I identify as a woman”.”
- Female-only scholarships could be given to men that identify as women under Title IX institutions. Millions of dollars that would normally be used to help women achieve equality in education could now be given to men instead.
- “The most serious consequence of legally redefining “woman” as anyone who claims to be one, is that “woman” – as humankind has always recognized “woman” – will cease to exist. Women’s immutable existence will be legally altered to include any man who wishes to be a woman, for whatever reason, at whatever time and for however long it suits him.”
- Any act or bill that has been passed to grant women assistance or special necessary freedoms – and did not define the term “woman” within the Aact- would apply men who identify as women.
No matter how much of a transformation someone goes through or how much one professes to be something different, men are still biologically men, and women are still biologically women. In the words of Camille Pagila, “The cold biological truth is that sex changes are impossible. Every single cell of the human body remains coded with one’s birth gender for life. Intersex ambiguities can occur, but they are developmental anomalies that represent a tiny proportion of all human births…I reject state-sponsored coercion to call someone a ‘woman’ or a ‘man’ simply on the basis of his or her subjective feeling about it.”
If you care for and respect the privacy, rights, safety and equality of the women around you, you must do everything within your power to not allow the term “sex” to be redefined as “gender identity” in your state. Research the facts, create a compelling case, and urge your representatives to protect women from the threats of this redefinition.