Transgender Wrestler Allowed to Compete With Females Despite Being on Testosterone
Photo by Cameron Spencer/Staff via Getty Images
BY:
FRANK CAMP
FEBRUARY 22, 2017
2898 44 14 Comments 10915
Saturday, Mack Beggs, a student at Euless Trinity high school in Euless, Texas, won the Class 6A Region II wrestling meet.
A story like this might not seem particularly newsworthy, except for the fact that Beggs is currently undergoing a female-to-male gender transition, and a critical component of that transition is the use of testosterone.
Beggs won the match when her opponent forfeited. She also won an earlier match via forfeiture. Two wrestling parents, Jim Baudhuin and Pratik Khandelwal, have filed a lawsuit asking the University Interscholastic League (UIL) to prohibit Beggs from competing because of her use of the steroid.
According to Sports Day:
The suit claims that allowing the wrestler to compete while using testosterone exposes other athletes to "imminent threat of bodily harm." Baudhuin's daughter is not in the same weight class as Beggs...Khandelwal's daughter did not wrestle Beggs because they were in different weight classes this weekend.
However, steroid use is allowed under what's known as a "safe harbor" provision. As long as the steroids are "dispensed, prescribed, delivered, and administered by a medical practitioner for a valid medical purpose," wrestlers will not be disqualified.
The only way to remedy the situation would be to allow Beggs to compete with males, but due to UIL rules, she is barred from doing so:
One policy states student-athletes must compete as the gender listed on their birth certificate. Another specifically prohibits boys from wrestling girls and vice versa.
In a not unexpected turn of events, Beggs' grandmother believes the forfeiture was based in "bias, hatred, and ignorance."
Here's the problem with transgender athletes--most avenues lead to unfair advantages. There are inherent strength differences between men and women, and to allow someone who is biologically male or female to compete with someone of the opposite biological sex is, generally speaking, inequitable.
Last May, transgender student, Nattaphon Wangyot, competed in an Alaska state track meet. Running in the Class 3A girls’ sprints, the biologically male athlete took third and fifth place in the 200-meter dash and 100-meter dash, respectively. Wangyot's placement bumped biologically female runner, Saskia Harrison, out of further contention in the 100. Harrison later remarked that the matchup was competitively unfair.
Unfortunately, few are daring enough to criticize what is obviously an unfair advantage because transgenderism is protected by the progressive hush zone. No one is allowed to say anything negative about transgender individuals. Period. Even if the criticism has nothing to do with transgender people as human beings, and is simply a matter of athletic equity, it is forbidden, and labeled "transphobic."
Progressives denounce anyone who doesn't adhere to their orthodoxy regarding transgender issues because honest conversation and inquiry could lead to them losing their compassion card--and that's the only good card in their hand. Progressives pull on American heartstrings in order to acquire sympathy and votes.
By castigating their opposition, and labeling them (insert noun)-phobic, progressives appear to be the defenders of the weak and oppressed; the honorable heroes fighting the conservative villains. What they're actually doing is using minority groups as political pawns, which is a morally reprehensible thing to do.
Photo by Cameron Spencer/Staff via Getty Images
BY:
FRANK CAMP
FEBRUARY 22, 2017
2898 44 14 Comments 10915
Saturday, Mack Beggs, a student at Euless Trinity high school in Euless, Texas, won the Class 6A Region II wrestling meet.
A story like this might not seem particularly newsworthy, except for the fact that Beggs is currently undergoing a female-to-male gender transition, and a critical component of that transition is the use of testosterone.
Beggs won the match when her opponent forfeited. She also won an earlier match via forfeiture. Two wrestling parents, Jim Baudhuin and Pratik Khandelwal, have filed a lawsuit asking the University Interscholastic League (UIL) to prohibit Beggs from competing because of her use of the steroid.
According to Sports Day:
The suit claims that allowing the wrestler to compete while using testosterone exposes other athletes to "imminent threat of bodily harm." Baudhuin's daughter is not in the same weight class as Beggs...Khandelwal's daughter did not wrestle Beggs because they were in different weight classes this weekend.
However, steroid use is allowed under what's known as a "safe harbor" provision. As long as the steroids are "dispensed, prescribed, delivered, and administered by a medical practitioner for a valid medical purpose," wrestlers will not be disqualified.
The only way to remedy the situation would be to allow Beggs to compete with males, but due to UIL rules, she is barred from doing so:
One policy states student-athletes must compete as the gender listed on their birth certificate. Another specifically prohibits boys from wrestling girls and vice versa.
In a not unexpected turn of events, Beggs' grandmother believes the forfeiture was based in "bias, hatred, and ignorance."
Here's the problem with transgender athletes--most avenues lead to unfair advantages. There are inherent strength differences between men and women, and to allow someone who is biologically male or female to compete with someone of the opposite biological sex is, generally speaking, inequitable.
Last May, transgender student, Nattaphon Wangyot, competed in an Alaska state track meet. Running in the Class 3A girls’ sprints, the biologically male athlete took third and fifth place in the 200-meter dash and 100-meter dash, respectively. Wangyot's placement bumped biologically female runner, Saskia Harrison, out of further contention in the 100. Harrison later remarked that the matchup was competitively unfair.
Unfortunately, few are daring enough to criticize what is obviously an unfair advantage because transgenderism is protected by the progressive hush zone. No one is allowed to say anything negative about transgender individuals. Period. Even if the criticism has nothing to do with transgender people as human beings, and is simply a matter of athletic equity, it is forbidden, and labeled "transphobic."
Progressives denounce anyone who doesn't adhere to their orthodoxy regarding transgender issues because honest conversation and inquiry could lead to them losing their compassion card--and that's the only good card in their hand. Progressives pull on American heartstrings in order to acquire sympathy and votes.
By castigating their opposition, and labeling them (insert noun)-phobic, progressives appear to be the defenders of the weak and oppressed; the honorable heroes fighting the conservative villains. What they're actually doing is using minority groups as political pawns, which is a morally reprehensible thing to do.
