Showing posts with label athletes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label athletes. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Thud...

That is the sound of the other shoe dropping...
AP News
July 23, 2025


The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports, telling the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an “obligation to comply” with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

The new policy, announced Monday with a quiet change on the USOPC’s website and confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies, follows a similar step taken by the NCAA earlier this year.

The USOPC change is noted obliquely as a detail under “USOPC Athlete Safety Policy” and references Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” signed in February. That order, among other things, threatens to “rescind all funds” from organizations that allow transgender athlete participation in women’s sports.
And why are they doing it?
U.S. Olympic officials told the national governing bodies they will need to follow suit, adding that “the USOPC has engaged in a series of respectful and constructive conversations with federal officials” since Trump signed the order.
They are scared of Trump! And it goes against the Title VII!
The National Women’s Law Center put out a statement condemning the move.

“By giving into the political demands, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes,” said that organization’s president and CEO, Fatima Goss Graves.
Hey so what that the courts have ruled that Title VII applies in the R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission case.

But hey, court rulings never apply to Republicans.

Thursday, June 05, 2025

Cue The Music From Jaws

The feds are coming!

The feds are coming!

They are coming for the town of Cromwell CT! Why? Because they are obeying the law!
Trump administration to probe policies allowing transgender students to play sports, use facilities aligned with gender identity
CT Mirror
by Jessika Harkay
May 29, 2025



The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has launched an investigation into Cromwell Public Schools for possible violations to federal sex-based discrimination laws.

Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a May 2 letter to Cromwell Superintendent Enza Macri that federal officials “will examine” whether the district is violating Title IX statutes by allowing transgender students to participate in sports and use facilities that align with their gender identity.
You might remember that the lawsuit the girl filed was found in favor of the town and the appeal was also found in favor of the town.
In 2020, federal officials reached a determination that Connecticut had violated Title IX, but state leaders pushed back. Then in early 2021, just a few weeks into his term, President Joe Biden’s administration withdrew support for the lawsuit and rescinded the Education Department’s threats to cut funding to the districts. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2022.

This time around, the Office of Civil Rights is employing a “Rapid Resolution Process,” which would expedite the investigation, according to the letter.
A little history...

Event/Action Year(s)Status/Outcome
Trans girl wins track meet, lawsuit filed 2019 Lawsuit filed by female athletes
DOE finds Title IX violation2020 State pushes back
Biden admin withdraws support, lawsuit ends 2020-2021 Lawsuit dismissed
New federal Title IX probe launched 2025 Ongoing investigation

And that brings us up to yesterday;
By Don Stacom
Hartford Courant
June 4, 2025


Saying it’s stuck between Trump Administration demands and Connecticut civil rights law, Cromwell’s school board on Tuesday night unanimously rejected a federal directive to dismantle its protections for transgender student athletes — at least for now.

Mayor James Demetriades applauded the board’s decision, and said his town’s schools and some of their students are being unfairly singled out.

“Let’s be very clear about what is happening here: the federal government is targeting transgender students in an attempt to divide our community,” he said in a statement.

“The federal government is holding hostage nearly a million dollars of federal funding and putting the Board of Education in an impossible situation: captitulate on our core values of community inclusion (and lose our ability to participate in all CIAC sports) or risk losing funding for our most vulnerable students,” Demetriades said.

The school board and the mayor called on Gov. Ned Lamont and state Attorney General William Tong to step up to help, warning that other Connecticut communities eventually will be in for the same treatment by Trump’s education department.
Do you remember Maine and what happened there a few weeks ago? Bondi announces lawsuit against Maine over transgender athletes playing in girls sports well the outcome was Maine got the funding for the school lunch program that was held hostage but the legal issue hasn't been settled.

Don't think that this sports thing is new... who remember Renee Richards? Nearly 50 years ago her case set a legal and cultural precedent, sparking national debate about fairness, gender identity, and inclusion in sports and we are still fighting that battle.


Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Caved In!

The fear of Lord Trump did it again... California caved in to Trump's threats!


President Donald Trump has no events on his public schedule but has been active on social media Tuesday, including threatening federal funding for California over its handling of a transgender athlete. In a Truth social post, Trump said he would speak with the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, to “find out which way he wants to go.” Trump appeared to be referring to the case of AB Hernandez, a transgender athlete in California who is set to compete in the state championships for girls track and field this week. In a separate post, Trump on Tuesday defended his decision to hold off on a proposed 50 percent tariff on the European Union, saying its leaders had been “slow walking” trade negotiations and that his tariff threat made them act more urgently.
That sound you hear is from the abrupted U-turn the governor made... 
At the state high school track and field championships, cisgender girls who did not qualify for the meet because a transgender athlete placed ahead of them will be allowed to compete.
San Francisco Chronicle
By Sophia Bollag,
May 27, 2025


After President Donald Trump and a chorus of activists criticized California for allowing a transgender teenager to compete in a high school girls track competition, the state’s governing body for high school sports announced an effort to find middle ground on the issue.

At the state track and field championships this weekend in Clovis (Fresno County), cisgender girls who did not qualify for the meet because a transgender athlete placed ahead of them will be allowed to compete, the California Interscholastic Federation announced just hours after Trump threatened the state on social media Tuesday morning.

The CIF follows rules implemented in 2013 stating that athletes “will participate in programs consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed.” While Tuesday’s decision gained support from Gov. Gavin Newsom, it quickly sparked criticism from advocates both for and against trangender athletes’ participation in girls sports. It comes after dozens of adults heckled the 16-year-old transgender girl this month at a track meet.
This happened so fast that I'm surprised no one got whiplash... look at Maine, they said no to Trump and Trump blinked. AP News wrote;
President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday agreed to halt all efforts to freeze funds intended for a Maine child nutrition program after initially suspending those dollars due to a disagreement between the state and Trump over transgender athletes.

In response, the state will drop its lawsuit that had been filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced.

“It’s unfortunate that my office had to resort to federal court just to get USDA to comply with the law and its own regulations,” Frey said in a statement. “But we are pleased that the lawsuit has now been resolved and that Maine will continue to receive funds as directed by Congress to feed children and vulnerable adults.”
Here in Connecticut the Republican parade a girl who was injured in volleyball by a trans athlete,


President Donald Trump has revived a national debate over transgender athletes in sports, threatening a crackdown on states and schools that allow participants to compete based on their gender identity.

Now the issue has arrived, once again, in Connecticut.
[...]

"Biological men do not belong in women's sports," said Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, which organized the event. "Why is this not more of a bipartisan issue in the state of Connecticut?"
My path and Mr. Wolfgang have passed by many times when we tried to pass the non-discrimination legislation, they brought student athletes back then in 2011.

I want to point out something, last year there were over 
They held a rally in the Capitol and they dragged a girl up from North Carolina who was injured in a volleyball game.
The governor and Attorney General both have said they will fight is Trump picks on us.

In Pub Med they report an article in Current Review Musculoskelet Medicine in an article there write...
Despite being a limited-contact sport, concussions made up a larger than anticipated percentage of injuries throughout all levels of play in indoor volleyball. In female players, the concussion rate in the NCAA has been reported as 4.93 per 10,000 AEs, with 6.05 during competition and 4.43 during practices. This is the highest amongst limited-contact sports including softball, swimming/diving, and baseball. It is even higher in rate than men’s basketball, which is categorized as a high-contact sport. Concussions were the second most common specific diagnosis in NCAA women’s volleyball from 2014 to 2019...
Did you notice the part where they say that injuries are "...the highest amongst limited-contact sports including softball, swimming/diving, and baseball..."? They parade this one volleyball player to demonize us... Why don't they talk about protecting thousand of girls from head injuries?

Also did you ever notice people playing beach basketball pick-up game... they are co-ed!

Friday, May 16, 2025

Round Two -- Maine

In 2014 we had Round 1 in the legal challenges in Maine when a trans-girl who was discriminated against in Maine and whose case went all the way to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court was awarded $75,000.

Now we are having Round 2...


Maine is headed to trial for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports.

A court date has been scheduled for December.

Maine met the deadline to respond to the Trump administration's lawsuit on Thursday.

The Justice Department says Maine is violating President Donald Trump's interpretation of Title IX and wants a court to take action against the state.
Ah... "Trump's interpretation of Title IX" his views do not match those of the courts!


It was March — Women's History Month — when Republican representative Laurel Libby stepped to a lectern at a state house press conference to decry Maine's policies on transgender athletes.

"We find ourselves in a battle to preserve the very definition of what it means to be a woman," she said.

Flanked by female Republican colleagues clad in white in honor of suffragettes more than a century ago, Libby pronounced that transgender athletes are a threat to women's hard-earned rights.
You see the Republicans still believe that one morning we wake up and say, "Gee you know I really want to be bullied, harassed, assaulted... it will be fun!"
But critics say the movement to ban transgender athletes from girls' sports doesn't have anything to do with fairness.

"This is not about protecting women," said Shiwali Patel, the Senior Director of Safe and Inclusive Schools at the National Women's Law Center.

"It really is about targeting a group of people - you know, dehumanizing trans people and stripping them of protections - and not doing anything to address the actual gender inequities in sports," she said.
The Republicans are using us as a smokescreen, as a distraction as they cut funding to education and bring down education to the level of "Reading, 'Riting, & 'Rithermatic" they don't want an educated  "proletariat."

We callout the man behind the curtain that is using us to distract from the real issues. Here in Connecticut last week the Republicans had a press conference (You want to guess the topic? Yup... you guessed it. A call nation wide went out this week we are going after trans athletes and Poof just like that all around the country the Republicans were talking about us!)
Greenwich Times
By Alex Putterman,
May 9, 2025


President Donald Trump has revived a national debate over transgender athletes in sports, threatening a crackdown on states and schools that allow participants to compete based on their gender identity.

Now the issue has arrived, once again, in Connecticut.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon at the state Capitol, advocates and Republican lawmakers criticized Connecticut officials for maintaining an inclusive stance toward transgender athletes. Current state policy allows all athletes to compete according to the gender they identify with.

"Biological men do not belong in women's sports," said Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, which organized the event. "Why is this not more of a bipartisan issue in the state of Connecticut?"
I have crossed paths with Mr. Wolfgang before, his organization has been against every LGBTQ+ legislation that has been proposed. There have about a half a dozen anti-trans athlete bill this year proposed and zero made it out of committee,
 The news conference drew more than a dozen Republican legislators and several prominent advocates from Connecticut and beyond, many of whom wore pink stickers reading "Save Girls Sports." Several speakers went beyond the realm of athletics, however, claiming gender is immutable and that transgender people should not be permitted to transition at all.
Stop and think about this... The Journal of Athletic Training reported, "The overall injury burden associated with volleyball is significant. More than 60 000 injuries were estimated as being sustained by female athletes competing in high school volleyball annually." And they are parading out one girl student athlete who got hit in the head! What about protecting the other 59,999 girl volleyball players who got hit in the head!

This is nothing but a political distraction at our expense.  

Monday, April 14, 2025

When The School Doesn't Discriminate!

A school in the Chicago follows the law. Imagine that!
School district denies girls forced to change in front of trans student
  • Students claims they were forced to change in front of trans student
  • The district denies the accusations
  • The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating
News Nation
By Sean Noone
Apr 11, 2025


A school board meeting in a northern suburb of Chicago drew mixed reactions from parents Thursday as they weighed in on allegations that some middle school students were forced to change clothes in the presence of a transgender student.

Some parents of students at Deerfield Public School District 109 said that young girls were being robbed of their privacy, while others said transgender students deserved to feel safe.

The district, however, disputes the claim and insists the incident under question did not happen.

In March, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced that it was investigating after a mother filed a civil rights complaint after female students at Alan B Shepard Middle School reportedly complained to school administrators about a male who was using their locker room to change for gym class.

[...]

Some who spoke during the meeting voiced support for the transgender student, with one speaker calling the controversy surrounding the allegations a “publicity stunt.”
Now lets hear from the Advocate...
Hundreds attended a Deerfield school board meeting to support a trans student after the Department of Education launched an investigation into her locker room use.
By Ryan Adamczeski
April 11 2025


Hundreds attended a school board meeting in Illinois Thursday evening to voice their support for a transgender student after a parent complained about her using the girl's locker room.

Deerfield parent Nicole Georgas claimed last month that her 13-year-old cisgender daughter was "forced" to use the girl's locker room at the same time as a trans girl, resulting in daughter refusing to change there. With the help of conservative groups the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies and the Liberty Justice Center, Georgas filed a federal civil rights complaint.

The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into Chicago Public Schools and Deerfield Public Schools District 109 in March for supposed Title IX violations. The district has maintained that it is complying with state federal anti-discrimination laws.
But the school systems answered those charges saying,
"We are sensitive to the privacy needs of all our middle school students and ensure that no student is required to change into a gym uniform for physical education class in front of others," Schroeder continued. "When both our middle schools were renovated in 2017, we added five private changing stations within each locker room that are available to all students."
So who do you believe?

Meanwhile...
Deerfield Public Schools District 109 held its first board meeting since becoming subject to the Education Department's investigation Thursday night. The meeting was attended by a local chapter of Moms For Liberty, a designated extremist hate group, which was drowned out by hundreds of community members who showed up to support the young trans girl.
Okay here is my prediction... the U.S. Department of Education will find the school system in violation of Title IX. Totally ignoring Supreme Court cases and the case will once again land on the Supreme Court's bench.

Tuesday, April 08, 2025

Lies, Lies, And More Lies

We have seen it time, time and again with the Republicans, they lie.

This morning I wrote about Maine being attacked by Trump over trans athletes, well now we have another lying Republican...
Sen. Tommy Tuberville's office did not return The Advocate's request about evidence supporting these claims.
The Advocate
By Christopher Wiggins
April 07 2025


Over the weekend, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican, appeared on Fox News and made a baseless, inflammatory claim about transgender people in sports — this time suggesting that entire teams of men are deciding to transition to compete in women’s athletics.

That's not happening.

The former Auburn football coach, who should know a thing or two about student-athlete eligibility, offered zero evidence during his appearance on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Barteromo. “We have entire men’s teams across this country now that are turning trans,” Tuberville, 70, said. “Women’s teams, they’re turning trans.”
Of course he offered no evidence because it is all a lie!
His remarks came amid a broader attack on Democrats, LGBTQ+ people, and youth in sports.

“The Democrats know that transgender boys in women’s sports is wrong, but they can’t abandon them because the rest of the group would probably say, ‘Hey, if you’re not going to stand with us, we’re out of here for you Democrats,’” Tuberville said. “And so it’s wrong. Everybody knows it’s wrong. We’re going to ruin women’s sports. It’s a disaster.”
He is playing on the fears of his evangelical Christian base!
"It's dead wrong," the Republican senator said.
HuffPost
Jazmin Tolliver
By Jazmin Tolliver
Apr 6, 2025


Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is taking aim at the “woke globalists” who he claims are “pushing kids” to become transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“We have entire men’s teams across this country now that are turning trans — women’s teams — they’re turning trans,” Tuberville told guest host Jackie DeAngelis while appearing on Sunday’s episode of Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

He continued, “That’s going to be a situation where it’s going to pick up speed because these woke globalists are pushing these kids to say, ‘if you can’t compete in men’s sports, let’s just transition and say you’re a woman and participate in women’s sports.’”

Tuberville declared the situation “dead wrong,” adding, “We gotta stand up against it, but the Democrats are all in.”

Tuberville’s comments came after the Republican senator’s measure to preserve Title IX protections for female athletes by restricting transgender students from playing on women’s sports teams failed to garner the votes it needed to break a filibuster last month.
Them lying Republicans will say anything for their right-wing base... remember during the elections and the immigrants eating dogs and cats! No lie is outrageous enough!

I leave you with the John Oliver show on trans rights where he shows up all the Republican lies about trans athletes...




Thursday, April 03, 2025

A Tale Of Six States!

This is a tale of how three states passed or did not pass legislation about us.
The law requires public buildings including the state Capitol, schools, jails, prisons, libraries and state-funded shelters to provide separate spaces for men and women.
AP News
March 27, 2025


Transgender people in Montana can no longer use bathrooms in public buildings that do not align with their sex assigned at birth after Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed new restrictions into law Thursday.

The law, which takes effect with its approval, requires public buildings including the state Capitol, schools, jails, prisons, libraries and state-funded domestic violence shelters to provide separate spaces for men and women.

It defines the sexes in state law based on a person’s chromosomes and reproductive biology, even as a district court ruling earlier this year declared the definitions unconstitutional.

Attorneys for the ACLU of Montana filed a legal challenge to the law within hours of it being signed. They asked a state judge in Missoula to block Gianforte and Monana Attorney General Austin Knudsen from enforcing the law.
And the results of that trial...
AP News
April 2, 2025


A judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a Montana law that restricts transgender people’s use of bathrooms in public buildings.

The measure, which Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into effect last week, threatened to deprive transgender people of their constitutional right to equal protection under the law, Montana District Court Judge Shane Vannatta ruled. The law prevents people from using restrooms in public buildings that do not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.

The five people who sued over the law were likely to prevail, Vannatta added in his ruling.

The new law “is motivated by animus and supported by no evidence that its restrictions advance its purported purpose to protect women’s safety and privacy,” Vannatta wrote.
If they want to ban us they should also ban pastors and legislators!



Meanwhile down in California  the state legislature rejected a trans ban on student athletes.


After a heated hearing Tuesday in Sacramento, California legislators killed two anti-transgender sports bans introduced by Republican lawmakers. It comes as the Trump administration is investigating a statewide sports organization over the Golden State’s policy that allows transgender student athletes to play on the sports teams aligned with their gender.

Assembly Bill 89 authored by Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) aimed to ban trans girls from playing on female athletic teams. AB 844 by Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Corona) would also have banned trans boys from playing on male sports teams.

A fool’s errand, as the Democratic-controlled Legislature was never expected to adopt the bills, the votes on the transphobic legislation by the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Tourism Committee was appropriately scheduled Tuesday on April Fools’ Day. The panel rejected AB 89 on a 7-2 vote and AB 844 on a 6-2 vote during the hearing but left the roll open for absent members.
Here in Connecticut the 30+ anti-trans bills including bill that banned us from sports never made it out of committee.


Over in Colorado...
Democrats in the Colorado legislature introduced two bills that would add protections for transgender people in schools and the courts. They’re expected to meet strong Republican opposition.
Colorado Sun
By Lucas Brady Woods
April 1, 2025


The Colorado Senate commemorated Transgender Day of Visibility on Monday with a resolution on the chamber floor, but Democrats want to do more than just talk.

They’re also proposing new protections for trans people.

“Transgender Coloradans are part of the fabric of our communities. They are parents, students, care givers, faith leaders and neighbors,” said one of the resolution’s sponsors Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Jefferson County Democrat. “They experience elevated levels of poverty, discrimination and violence.”

All Senate Republicans refused to support the resolution, staying seated as it was presented on the chamber floor while other lawmakers stood in recognition. But their steadfast opposition isn’t deterring the legislature’s Democrats, who introduced two bills on Friday aimed at further protecting trans rights under state law.
At the state capitol here in Connecticut, a rally was held in the Capitol and one of the guest speakers was the Lt. Governor.



Down in the peach state of Georgia, the Democrats walk out!
AP News
By  JEFF AMY
April 2, 2025


 Boxed into what they saw as an unsavory vote on outlawing spending on gender affirming care for transgender prisoners, Georgia Democrats chose a third option Wednesday. They walked out.

Chants of “Take a walk!” echoed under the gold dome of the state Capitol from dozens of House Democrats who said they’re exhausted by a blizzard of bills attacking transgender people.

The bill at hand, Senate Bill 185, would ban state prison spending on “sex reassignment surgeries,” hormone replacement therapy, or other surgeries “intended to alter the appearance of primary or secondary sexual characteristics.”

The 100-2 vote, which sent the measure to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature or veto, was a chance for Republicans to embarrass Democrats on an issue that the GOP believes is unpopular with voters.
The federal courts have all said you cannot deny us "medically necessary" treatment which includes hormones and gender confirming surgery. So all this really does is play to their base.



Down in Florida you know that they had to introduce an anti-LGBTQ bill...
One critic called the bill an insult LGBTQ+ people and a waste of government resources.
LGBTQ Nation
By Daniel Villarreal
April 1, 2025


Florida state Republican lawmakers have advanced a bill that would allow public employees and state contractors to openly discriminate against LGBTQ+ co-workers without fear of punishment.

The so-called “Freedom of Conscience in the Workplace Act” (S.B. 440) would forbid public employers from requiring workers to use transgender people’s personal pronouns and forbid employers from punishing any employee for expressing “a belief in traditional or Biblical views of sexuality and marriage, or … gender ideology.”

The legislation would also remove “nonbinary” gender options from employment forms and forbid any entities from requiring workers to undergo LGBTQ+ cultural competence training. The bill would not apply to private employers.
[...]
 
One bill would ban local governments from enacting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies (including any recognition of Pride Month) by defunding these initiatives and removing local officials who promote them. Another would prohibit any taxpayer funds from supporting DEI initiatives in state agencies, among state contractors, or grantees.
Of course the state entirely ignores Title VII! Which Trump's Supreme Court ruled in our favor in the 



And to end on a positive note...


The Minnesota House has rejected a bill that would have banned transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports.

The Republican-backed bill was voted on Monday evening. All 67 GOP House members voted for the bill, while all 66 Democrats opposed it. Sixty-eight votes were needed for the bill to pass. 

An executive order from President Trump fueled debate inside the Minnesota State Capitol before the vote.

The hours-long debate capped a full day of rallies in support and opposition of the proposal, including a visit from Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimming star turned activist.
The Republicans even brought in some heavy guns... a women college swimmer to testify. But even with her the bill was rejected the was introduced as a result of a Trump executive order.
"History has never looked favorable upon any movement that criminalizes people based solely on the fact of who they are," Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-Falcon Heights, said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
These bills and bathroom bills are throw backs to the days of the Jim Crow laws banning Blacks from bathrooms used by Whites. They used the same arguments to ban Blacks, they used the same arguments to ban gays from bathrooms... save the children!


Friday, March 07, 2025

Do You Have A Suddened Pain Between Your Shoulder Blades?

Or "Et tu, Brute?"

Did you just feel a knife in your back?
The remarks by Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a potential White House hopeful, were an extraordinary break from fellow Democrats and signaled a newly defensive position on the issue.
The New York Times
By Reid J. Epstein and Laurel Rosenhall
March 6, 2025


Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, embarking on a personal post-mortem of the failures of his Democratic Party, suggested this week that the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports was “deeply unfair.”

The comments by Mr. Newsom, who has backed L.G.B.T.Q. causes for decades and was one of the first American elected officials to officiate same-sex weddings, represented a remarkable break from other top Democrats on the issue, and signaled a newly defensive position on transgender rights among many in his party.

Just as surprising as Mr. Newsom’s remarks was the person to whom he made them: Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old right-wing influencer best known for starting Turning Point USA, the pro-Trump organization that is active on college campuses.

[...]

Mr. Newsom is widely seen as having presidential ambitions in 2028 — something he joked about on the podcast. For years, he was one of the fiercest Democratic antagonists toward President Trump, casting himself as a next-generation liberal warrior fluent in conservative orthodoxy who could lead his party into the post-Biden era.
Thump, thump... that is the sound of the bus running over us!

Politico writes that,
Newsom’s comments on the issue roiling political debates nationwide came in a conversation with influential MAGA-world figure Charlie Kirk, the campus culture warrior who leads the organization Turning Point USA and is a close ally of President Donald Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr.

Newsom also agreed that the most politically destructive attack ads from Trump’s campaign featured Kamala Harris’ support for providing taxpayer-funded gender transition-related medical care for detained immigrants and federal prisoners.

“She didn’t even react to it, which was even more devastating,” Newsom said, suggesting upward of 90 percent of Americans disagreed with Harris’ position. “Then you had the video [of Harris] as a validator. Brutal,” Newsom added. “It was a great ad.”
I forget where I read it, but some legislator said that the bill to ban trans athletes only affects two trans athletes in the state! There was never any problems with trans athletes in schools until the Republicans stirred up the hate.

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

I'm The Greatest!

You all have heard Trump boast about the "Biggest Victory", "A Landslide", it was not "was not a victory of “epic” or “historic” proportions yet... it is just more lies! The headline in "The Nation" says it all,
Donald Trump’s popular vote total has fallen below 50 percent, and his margin over Kamala Harris has narrowed considerably as all the votes are counted.
Keeping that in mind, the voters didn't care about us, they only cared about the economy... So now one of the first legislation that they tackle is not the economy but us!
Trans people comprise a scant portion of athletes, at all levels, but the drive to bar them from participating in competitive sports has never been about numbers.
The New Yorker
By Louisa Thomas
January 19, 2025


What did people care about in the lead-up to the 2024 Presidential election? Last fall, Gallup ran a poll and asked. The economy was first on the list; most voters rated it as “extremely important.” Majorities of respondents also named a slew of other issues as either “extremely important” or “very important” to their vote: democracy in the U.S., terrorism and national security, picks for Supreme Court Justices, immigration, health care, gun policy, taxes, abortion, crime, income and wealth distribution, the federal budget deficit, foreign affairs, energy policy, race relations, and so on. In fact, only two issues on the list were not considered at least “very important” by a majority of voters. One was climate change, which half of those surveyed voted as “somewhat important” or “not important.” The other was transgender rights, which came last.
We were dead last on what the voters were concern but the first thing that they tackle. When I was on the radio interview with the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), they said that there were about a quarter million student athletes in Connecticut and about a dozen trans athletes!
But the drive to ban transgender athletes from sports has never been about numbers. In 2023, Ohio’s House of Representatives passed a bill banning trans girls from competing in girls’ sports as early as kindergarten. It was called the Save Women’s Sports Act, conjuring an image of barbarians at the gate. But, when the journalist Pablo Torre went looking for these girls who were, purportedly, breaking all the records and stealing all the opportunities, he found that, when the efforts of the measure began, there was one trans varsity athlete in Ohio: a backup catcher. (She wasn’t very good.) When the governor of Mississippi signed a bill in 2021 barring trans athletes from competing in sports according to their gender, supporters of the bill didn’t present evidence of trans athletes at public schools in the state. Around that time, the Associated Press contacted two dozen lawmakers who were sponsoring legislation to prohibit transgender girls from joining girls’ teams at public high schools, in addition to reaching out to conservative groups that were supporting the bills. In most cases, no one could cite any problematic instances of transgender participation. Many of the bills’ biggest advocates did not know whether there were any transgender athletes in their states at all.

[...]

Given how vanishingly few transgender athletes there are, and how many voters pointed to other policy issues as greater priorities, a rational person might have been confused. But the Trump campaign seemed to capitalize on a few things. A 2023 Gallup poll found that sixty-nine per cent of Americans favor restrictions on transgender athletes, a seven-percentage-point increase from 2021. It doesn’t seem to matter that there aren’t all that many trans people playing competitive sports. And fans are not rational when they’re watching the University of Michigan play Michigan State. Football is a zero-sum game. The ads were zero-sum, too—them versus you.
But that doesn't fit the Republican's narrative that we are taking over women sports. Instead they make up lies and persecute us for votes.

Trump claims that the voters don't want  trans athletes which is a lie... Trump lies, the Republicans in Congress, the Republicans in the states legislatures lie, how can you trust them?

Here in Connecticut they have introduced trans athletes bills...
  • HB5125 AN ACT PROHIBITING STUDENTS WHO ARE BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM COMPETING ON FEMALE-ONLY ATHLETIC TEAMS AND USING FEMALE-ONLY LOCKER ROOMS AND FACILITIES.
  • HB5352 AN ACT PROHIBITING STUDENTS WHO ARE BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM COMPETING ON FEMALE-ONLY ATHLETIC TEAMS AND USING FEMALE-ONLY LOCKER ROOMS AND FACILITIES.
  • HB5669 AN ACT PROHIBITING STUDENTS WHO ARE BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM COMPETING ON FEMALE-ONLY ATHLETIC TEAMS AND USING FEMALE-ONLY LOCKER ROOMS AND FACILITIES.
  • HB5789  AN ACT ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPATION IN MALE AND FEMALE ATHLETIC PROGRAMS.
  • SB592 AN ACT CONCERNING PARTICIPATION ON A YOUTH SPORTS TEAM BASED ON ASSIGNED SEX AT BIRTH.
  • SB690 AN ACT PROVIDING CIVIL IMMUNITY TO INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC ORGANIZATIONS AND THE SANCTIONING BODIES OF PRIVATE YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS THAT ADOPT GENDER IDENTITY POLICIES CONCERNING ATHLETIC PARTICIPATION AND COMPETITION.
These are just the ones introduced so far in the first two weeks of the session that the Republicans has introduced.

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

News Flash...They Did It!

They said they were going to do it and they did! What was the most important item that had to be passed by the House in the first 10 day of the new session. The economy? The tensions in the middle east? The Mexican border? Nope. It was us.
The legislation is a cornerstone of the GOP’s education agenda and would deliver on a priority for the incoming Trump administration.
Politico
By Bianca Quilantan
January 14, 2025


The House passed a measure to restrict transgender students from playing on women’s sports teams on a 218-206 vote Tuesday, with two Democrats joining Republicans and one voting present.

The legislation — H.R. 28 — is a cornerstone of the GOP’s education agenda and would deliver on a priority for the incoming Trump administration. It bans transgender women from competing on teams consistent with their gender identity and amends Title IX, the federal education law that bars sex-based discrimination, to define sex as based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
There are approximately 8 million student athletes in the U.S. and about 0.44% of all high school athletes are trans! 0.44%

That is what all this hubbub is about 0.44% of the student athletes!

Advocates for Trans Equality wrote in a press release...
Urgent: Tell Your Senator to Vote NO on S. 9
Hi there,

We just found out that H.R. 28 passed in the House. If passed as law, the bill would rewrite Title IX—the federal law that protects students against sex discrimination—to exclude transgender and intersex girls and women from participating in sports at federally funded schools and universities.

The good news is that it barely passed, with a strong showing of Democrats opposing this harmful bill. This opposition gives hope that the bill might be dead on arrival in the Senate.

However, it’s crucial to keep up the pressure by reaching out to your senators. Let them know you oppose this discriminatory legislation and urge them to stand up for trans and intersex rights. Your voice can make a difference in ensuring this harmful bill doesn’t move forward in the Senate.

Members of the Senate have introduced the Senate version of this bill, S. 9, and we ask that you now contact your Senator to voice your strong opposition! As community members and allies, we can come together to stop this from becoming law. 

Thursday, December 26, 2024

What The F_____ We Did It Once We Can Do It Again

Lawsuit happy Attorney General Ken Paxton is doing it again, last week he sued a doctor in New York state who had a telemedical patient in Texas, well now it is the NCAA!
The attorney general is accusing the organization of misleading fans by allowing transgender college athletes in women’s sports.
Texas Tribune 
By Berenice Garcia
Dec. 22, 2024


Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday he sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, accusing the organization of misleading college sports fans by allowing transgender women to participate in events marketed as women's competitions.

Paxton said the NCAA violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by deceiving fans who want to support sporting events that only include athletes whose female sex was assigned at birth.

Paxton also accused the NCAA of misleading consumers by not identifying which athletes are transgender, and of “jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women” by allowing transgender athletes to participate in its sporting events.

“Radical ‘gender theory’ has no place in college sports,” Paxton said in a news release Sunday.

Paxton wants the court to limit the participation of trans athletes in NCAA competitions taking place in Texas or involving Texas teams, or to stop the organization from labeling events as women's sports if they include transgender women.

In a statement, the NCAA did not address the lawsuit’s allegations but said they would continue to support women's sports.
Okay, I'm not a lawyer but...

#1 Title IX prohibits discrimination in women sports for sex.
#2 The Supreme Court refused to hear the case letting stand  the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruling in Grimm's favor.

It would seem to me that precedent would apply in this case. LGBTQ Nations writes,
As Chron notes, Paxton’s suit seeks to have the NCAA either limit the participation of trans athletes in competitions taking place in Texas or involving Texas teams, or to have the NCAA stop categorizing events as “women’s sports” when a transgender athlete is involved.

[...]

The NCAA responded to Paxton’s lawsuit in a statement. While the organization did not directly address the Texas Republican’s allegations, NCAA communications director Michelle Brutlag Hosick said, “The Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships.”
It seems to me that as the NCAA said if they did either of these they would be violating federal law. Whatever, this case is going to the Supreme Court.

Thursday, December 12, 2024

I Don’t Chase Little White Balls Around, But I Know People Who Do.

And there are new rules for us from the LPGA…
LPGA and USGA announce new eligibility rules for transgender golfers


Two national golf associations announced new gender eligibility policies Wednesday that bar transgender women who have gone through male puberty from participating in elite women’s competitions.

The LPGA said in a statement outlining its new policy that it had consulted “top experts in the fields of medicine, science, sport physiology and golf performance” and had been advised that “a Player’s exposure to male puberty provides physical advantages that are beneficial to golf performance compared to Players who have not had such exposure.”
And with the Republicans trying to ban healthcare for trans youth where does that leave us?
Two national golf associations announced new gender eligibility policies Wednesday that bar transgender women who have gone through male puberty from participating in elite women’s competitions.

The LPGA said in a statement outlining its new policy that it had consulted “top experts in the fields of medicine, science, sport physiology and golf performance” and had been advised that “a Player’s exposure to male puberty provides physical advantages that are beneficial to golf performance compared to Players who have not had such exposure.”
The Republicans lies and bigotry are having an effect on us, like Joseph Goebbels said you tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth.
The updated policies, which take effect next month, will prevent Scotland’s Hailey Davidson, a transgender woman who nearly made it to this year’s U.S. Women’s Open, from taking part in the highest-profile women’s golf events.

Monday, October 28, 2024

The Right-Wing Bigots…

Are at it again! And once again it is about sports team with a trans player, or a possible trans player.
Nevada has forfeited its Mountain West Conference women’s volleyball match against San Jose State, two days after the game was moved over concerns Wolf Pack players wouldn’t show up.

Nevada played at Fresno State on Thursday night. Rather than going on to San Jose State for Saturday’s match, the school announced the contest is off "due to not having enough players to compete."

"Per Mountain West Conference policy, the match will be recorded as a conference loss for Nevada," the school said in its statement.
Why? Why did they forfeit a game?
Nevada volleyball captain Sia Liilii told the Reno Gazette Journal on Oct. 15 that the team would not play San Jose State following reports there is a transgender player on the Spartans team. The woman has played at San Jose State in previous seasons, and there were no issues with her participation until right-wing activists became involved in recent months.
The rabble rousers have once again stirred up the right-wing bigots. Notice two things first is they don’t really know she is transgender! Second she played in other seasons with no problems!
“The decision to move the location of the match has been made in the best interest of both programs and the well-being of the student-athletes, coaches, athletic staff and spectators,” the schools said in their statement.
Study after study have found that there is no difference between boys and girls strength until puberty, and even then it take a few years for boy to develop their strength. When a child takes puberty blockers it prevents the child from developing muscles, it keeps the child locked into pre-puberty muscle development.

The sports issues was mentioned by Shannon Minter in his Keynote address on Saturday and after his talk I went up to him and told him about our Amici Curiae brief in the case about trans sports in Connecticut…
This commitment to sports participation fosters academic achievement; helps athletes manage social pressures; teaches valuable social skills such as leadership, courage, communication, collaboration, discipline, and resilience; and provides the foundation for building emotional maturity and lasting friendships. Trans-exclusive policies deprive transgender athletes of these benefits by effectively prohibiting their participation in sports.
But the case is being reheard in federal court, an Appeal’s court sent it back to the lower court to rehear.

These skills are no longer the driving force in school sports… it has become a moneymaker! It is win at all cost… winning is everything and losing is for losers!
 

 
I'm driving back to Connecticut to vote today and then back to the Cape on Wednesday.


Update: 6:30PM

There was a large protest over the racist comments!
BBC News
Phil McCausland and Christal Hayes
October 28, 2024


A comedian at a Donald Trump rally called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage", sparking fury from Republicans and Democrats and accusations of racism.

The comic, Tony Hinchcliffe, was among the speakers at the Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday. He also made a series of jokes that leant on racist stereotypes.

A Trump adviser distanced the former president from the Puerto Rico joke, which was also denounced by Trump's Democratic rival, Kamala Harris. Harris herself was the target of another Trump warm-up speaker who also sparked controversy.

The furore came as one of the world's top Latin celebrities, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, endorsed Harris for president.

In his joke, Hinchcliffe, known for his comedy podcast Kill Tony, said: "There’s a lot going on. I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico."
You know this reflects the racism with Trump and in the Republican party that they didn't recognize it as racist!


Thursday, August 01, 2024

Vengeance Is Mine Saith The Republicans!

They passed laws in Florida banning our precipitation in school sports, a mom let her trans daughter play in school sports and the long arm of the Republican law reached out and grabbed her!
A Florida school employee who let her transgender daughter play on her high school’s girls volleyball team is being suspended for 10 days after the district’s board found on Tuesday that she violated state law but said firing her would be too severe.

The Broward County school board voted 5-4 to suspend without pay Jessica Norton ‘s employment at Monarch High School, where her 16-year-old daughter played on the varsity volleyball team the last two seasons. She can also no longer work as a computer information specialist but must be given a job with equal pay and responsibility.
Notice that the mother was in no way responsible anything with sports in her job!

What would they have done if she worked for a business instead of the school system? Require the company to punish her in some way?
Norton, who was removed from the school after the violation was discovered in November and then placed on paid leave, called the vote an “incorrect decision” but said it was better than being fired. She said she wasn’t sure if she would accept the punishment and return to work. She wanted to talk it over with her daughter, who left the school even though she had been her class president and a homecoming princess. Maybe they could return together, she said.
Notice what the students think… “class president and a homecoming princess” those are elected positions by the student body! The kids get it, the grown-up don’t!
Hixon said she wanted Norton moved from her job as a computer information specialist because in that position she could learn of another transgender student who was playing girls sports and might not report that to administrators.
How does he know that the new person he puts in her place would not do the same thing? Is he going to require a loyalty test for the new employee?

Why did the school board take such harsh treatment against the mom?
Still, Hixon said, Norton put the district in a legally difficult spot by falsely attesting her child was born female on her state athletic eligibility form. The Florida athletic association fined Monarch $16,500 for violating the act, put the school on probation, and the district could be sued under the act if another student believes she was kept off the volleyball team and lost scholarship opportunities because of Norton’s daughter.
The most common reason… revenge!

Okay, I have a question for all you legal people out there.

It appears to me that Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) should have been a private session or the names not used.



The Advocate has an article about states and teaching stuff about us, the LGBTQ+ community.
Connecticut is a special case — it is the only state in the country where law requires the education department to create LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, but does not require schools to use it.
You see it is like this.

Each town has rule over it own school systems, so there are 169 fiefdoms in Connecticut and woe be to anyone who interferes with their silo. Any Don Quixote who wants to tilt their windmills be prepared for battle! They don't have to adopt LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum but if the school system doesn't follow the GIE non-discrimination laws they can be subjected to law suits.

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

New England’s Blue… Wrong!

People think that New England is solid blue but New Hampshire is reddish purple. In the land of "Live Free or Die" they passed laws banning us!
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire has signed a bill that would ban transgender athletes in grades 5-12 from teams that align with their gender identity, adding the state to nearly half in the nation that adopted similar measures.

The bill passed by the Republican-led Legislature would require schools to designate all teams as either girls, boys or coed, with eligibility determined based on students' birth certificates "or other evidence." Supporters of the legislation said they wanted to protect girls from being injured by larger and stronger transgender athletes.

Sununu signed the bill Friday, saying in a statement it "ensures fairness and safety in women's sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions." It takes effect in 30 days.
That doesn’t sound very blue to me.

That is the Republican new talking point, “protect girls from being injured by larger and stronger transgender athletes” In Massachusetts during a girls volleyball game a trans student “Spiked” the volleyball injuring another player and the right-wing conservatives went running around saying… See that’s what happens when you allow these big burly trans girls play. We protect from being injured by larger and stronger transgender athletes.

Yeah but! What they don’t say is that there were over 250 facial injuries last year and only one, that’s “1” player was injured by a trans athlete. If they were really interested in preventing injuries that would follow the recommendations to make sports safer.

It seems to me that injuries are common in sports between all players, why don’t they work toward injuries? Instead of attacking us over common injuries and riling them up against us!
Sununu also signed a bill Friday that would ban gender-affirming surgeries for transgender minors. That takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025. The care has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.

"This bill focuses on protecting the health and safety of New Hampshire's children and has earned bipartisan support," Sununu wrote.
Well since there has never been “gender-affirming surgeries for transgender minors” in New Hampshire nor anywhere in the nation! But that doesn’t fit their agenda, instead they count on the general public not know about trans healthcare so they create a climate where people think that the doctors are like vultures waiting to preform surgery on minors on demand.

I vote for the party that does not tell you what bathroom to use.
I vote for the party that does not tell you can and cannot marry.
I vote for the party that does not tell you what books you can read.
I vote for the party that does not tell you what holy book you should follow.
I vote for the party that does not tell you what you can do with your body.
I vote for the party that is looking forwards and not backwards.
I’m voting for VP Harris.
I’m voting for the party with Integrity, Virtue, & Respect and not for a party that is lead by a con-artist who makes insurance salesman seem like saints!

Friday, July 05, 2024

In The Running!

They are off and running!

And I do mean “they,” a non-binary athlete is in the Olympics this summer.
Transgender runner Nikki Hiltz is headed to the Paris Olympics
The nonbinary athlete punched their ticket to Paris after winning the 1500-meter race at Sunday's U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials.
NBC News
By Jo Yurcaba
July 2, 2024


Transgender and nonbinary middle-distance runner Nikki Hiltz ran the second fastest time ever of any American in the women’s 1500-meter race at the U.S. Olympic Trials Sunday, qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Hiltz, who uses they/them pronouns, charged ahead of Elle St. Pierre and Emily Mackay in the final stretch of the race, finishing with a time of 3:55:33, a trials record. All of the top eight finishers set a new personal best time, according to OutSports. Paris will mark Hiltz’s Olympic debut.

In a post-race interview with NBC Sports, Hiltz, 29, said the race had significance beyond their personal accomplishment.

“This is bigger than just me. It’s the last day of Pride Month. ... I wanted to run this one for my community,” they said. “All the LGBT folks, yeah, you guys brought me home that last hundred [meters]. I could just feel the love and support.”
Do you want to read about what Fox News thinks?
Nikki Hiltz, a biological female who identifies as transgender non-binary, qualified for the U.S. Olympic team on Sunday after winning the women's 1,500-meter race at the trials over the weekend.

[…]

Hiltz also noted that it was the last day of Pride month.
Rather mild for Fox, but then again they were AFAB and they are running in the women’s race. So Fox doesn’t have anything to have a hissy-fit over.
 

In other trans news... I just found this on Facebook, it is a month old but,
By Bryan Mena
June 4, 2024


From extreme poverty to discrimination at the workplace, surveys and studies show that transgender people deal with a bevy of economic struggles.

A joint report from the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force found that transgender Americans were “nearly four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000/year compared to the general population.” The report, based on a survey of 6,450 respondents who identified as transgender or gender nonconforming, also found that unemployment is twice as high within the community and that “ninety percent of those surveyed reported experiencing harassment, mistreatment or discrimination.”

According to the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, “a transgender gender experience has been shown to be a unique and significant factor in economic, health, and experienced discrimination.”
I know many trans people who have to couch surf and are unemployed. Businesses are smart enough to not come out and say that they are not hiring trans people but the results are the same... no trans!
The article also has a reply box for those who want to talk about how they can't find jobs.

Friday, June 14, 2024

The Law Doesn’t Apply To Us!

Once again, the Republicans ignore the law even after they have been warned.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman introduced a controversial bill Friday that would prohibit transgender athletes from participating in women's and girls' sports at county-owned athletic facilities.

This is not his first attempt to enact the ban.

Nassau County Executive doubles down on transgender athlete ban
Blakeman first introduced the ban as an executive order back in February, but it was struck down by the Nassau County Supreme Court after a judge ruled he didn't have the authority to impose the ban without the county legislature's approval. Blakeman is now appealing that ruling.

"I believe the executive order was proper," he said.

The New York Civil Liberties Union also filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Roller Rebels, a roller derby team on Long Island that welcomes trans women, saying it violates the New York state human rights law which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

"Banning trans girls and women from participating In sports in Nassau County is something that New York state law simply doesn't allow," said NYCLU assistant legal director Bobby Hodgson.

The county executive is saying the bill is not anti-transgender, but rather pro-women and pro-girls.
That is the new twist… We are saving womanhood! We are not anti-trans!

Back in the beginning of May,
A New York judge struck down an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in girls’ or women’s sports leagues and teams at Nassau County facilities on Long Island.

Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Francis Ricigliano found on Friday Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman did not have the authority to issue such an order, according to court filings.

“In doing so, this Court finds the County Executive acted beyond the scope of his authority as the Chief Executive Officer of Nassau County,” the ruling said.

Ricigliano ruled Blakeman could not act without corresponding action by the Nassau County Legislature. It includes representatives from each of the county’s 19 districts.

Civil rights groups lauded the court decision, saying it struck down a harmful policy. But the judge did not rule on whether the order violated state civil or human rights law, instead ruling on a technical issue about authority.
So now the county legislature is going to ban us and then the NY Attorney General will get an injunction blocking the bill.

We have the lawyers on our side,
The New York State Bar Association has voted to oppose all attempts to ban transgender athletes from K-12 school sports.

Half of the states in the country have laws or regulations that ban transgender students from playing sports based on their gender identity. In Nassau County, for instance, the county executive, Bruce Blakeman, earlier this year announced an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in women and girls sports at Nassau County facilities. The order was struck down by the New York State Supreme Court in May on the grounds that the county executive did not have the authority to institute a ban.

“All student athletes deserve a chance to play sports with their peers,” said Domenick Napoletano, president of the New York State Bar Association. “Legislation enacted to prevent transgender youth from participating in sports is based in fear instead of fact. The New York State Bar Association stands against attempts to isolate and bully youth. Let the kids play.”

[…]

“The New York State Public High School Athletic Association, the governing body for high school interscholastic sports, has had an inclusive policy for transgender students since 2015,” said M. Lettie Dickerson, co-chair of the task force. “In that time, we have not seen the breakdown of boys and girls sports, and transgender athletes are a tiny percentage of athletes. We thank all our task force members for their hard work, and we thank the New York State Bar Association for standing against excluding transgender youth.”
You do know that we have been playing in sports long before without problems, it wasn’t a problem until the Republicans stirred it up.

A 2016 study published in the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine write in the study’s conclusion,
Conclusion

Currently, there is no direct or consistent research suggesting transgender female individuals (or male individuals) have an athletic advantage at any stage of their transition (e.g. cross-sex hormones, gender-confirming surgery) and, therefore, competitive sport policies that place restrictions on transgender people need to be considered and potentially revised.
But the Republican attack in us continues with their lies.

Thursday, May 23, 2024

New England Is Solid Blue…

...Not so fast! Most of the New England states are a blueish purple, they just have a small Democratic edge and New Hampshire is a more reddish purple.
As a transgender girl, Sarah Huckman’s experience joining girls’ sports in high school wasn’t automatic, her father Tom Huckman recalled. Because she had not undergone gender reassignment surgery, she needed to appeal to the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association for an exception, a process that involved writing letters with the help of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders.  

But once Sarah started participating in cross-country running, Nordic skiing, and track, she was quickly accepted by her friends and peers, Tom Huckman, of Ossipee, said at a press conference earlier this week.

“She’s a very social, gregarious person, and sports was absolutely one of the best things for her for her mental well-being,” Huckman said.

On Thursday, the New Hampshire Senate passed a measure that would prohibit such participation and sent the legislation to Gov. Chris Sununu’s desk.

The chamber voted to advance House Bill 1205, a bill that would bar transgender girls in grades five through 12 from participating in girls’ sports in public school, in a party-line vote opposed by Democrats.
But the Republicans were not finished yet, they had a whole mess of other anti-trans bills,
The bill is one of several the Senate took up Thursday that would reduce the rights of transgender people in the state. The chamber also passed House Bill 619, which would bar those under 18 from receiving gender reassignment surgeries, and House Bill 1312, which would allow parents to opt their children out of any public school instruction in “sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression.”
Then they passed a “Drop your drawers” bill to prove you are not trans.
HB 1205 would require public schools to determine a student’s biological gender by requesting the student produce a birth certificate. If that were not available, it would require the student to “provide other evidence indicating the student’s sex at the time of birth.”
Gee… how are they going to determine that? Suppose a student moves up their from Connecticut, our original birth certificates can be changed to show our true gender. Are they going to have everyone bring in your birth certificates or only those who look trans? And what will happen when they request a birth certificate from a cis-gendered girl? How will that make her feel?
Sen. Cindy Rosenwald argued that high school sports teams were meant to be about more than winning and losing.

“Sports teaches you lessons that are about how to be part of a group,” she said. “And (they) also teach you how to lose gracefully.”
That is something that I have been saying that sports teaches;   Team spirit, Leadership skills, Never give up, and Life long friendships. By not allowing trans students to play sports you are denying them from learning those skills!

Monday, May 13, 2024

Privacy.

You know that the right-winger love to go after us with bathrooms and sports… Well this one is a twofer.
'I'm a trans girl,' individual tells college student in bathroom run-in
Fox News
By Jamie Joseph
May 9, 2024


A North Carolina university is investigating after student Payton McNabb – who suffered long-term physical and mental injuries when a transgender volleyball player spiked a ball and hit her in the face during a high school match – filmed herself confronting a transgender woman in one of the girls' bathrooms on campus.

"Western Carolina University is dedicated to fostering a safe and welcoming environment for all students. The university's primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of all members of its campus community," a spokesperson for the school said in a statement issued to Fox News Digital. "WCU is committed to upholding its principles and ensuring that all students have equal access to education and opportunities. Violations of any university policies or state and federal laws will be addressed by appropriate campus officials.
So…
Did the trans woman do anything illegal in the bathroom? No.
Did the trans woman do anything wrong on the volleyball court? No.
Did the cis-gender woman do anything illegal in the bathroom? Yes. It is illegal in Connecticut to video or take photos of a person where they have an expectation of privacy.
McNabb then tells the individual that she pays "a lot of money to be safe in the bathroom." 
Well my dear, you’re still safe… was anything done to you in the bathroom? No. There is no evidence that allowing transgender women to use women's restrooms increases safety risks or illegal behavior. The claims that transgender-inclusive bathroom policies enable sexual predators are unfounded.
"Currently, I'm facing reports to the school for alleged 'transphobia,' alongside attempts to tear down my sorority, despite it having nothing to do with it," McNabb wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "I believe in everyone's right to their own opinion, and I shouldn't face punishment simply because I felt uncomfortable with a man being in our bathroom."
Do you know that one of the reasons of the segregation in the south was because Black made White people uncomfortable going the bathroom with Blacks or sitting at lunch counters. Then in the seventies the conservatives tried to ban gays from public restrooms because feared that the gays would attack boys in the bathroom. So that excuse has been used for generations.
In September 2022, McNabb was injured during a high-school volleyball game by a transgender athlete on the opposing team who spiked the volleyball and struck her in the face, causing her to fall backward and suffer a concussion and neck injury.
I wrote about that here, according to St. Luke’s Health,
This sport requires its athletes to be quick on their feet and lunge at oncoming balls; volleyball yields around 59,370 injuries nationally a year. One of the most common injuries is sprained ankles, caused by changing direction too fast or landing wrong after a jump.
Conclusion:
Among volleyball-related injuries evaluated in EDs between 2012 and 2021, the incidence rates of injuries in college-aged athletes far surpassed those of their high school–aged peers irrespective of injury type or bodily location. While sprains and strains were the most frequent injuries, head injuries accounted for the second most common diagnosis in both groups, suggesting that clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for concussion when evaluating players.
It seems to me that head injuries are quite common and one out of hundreds of head and necking is not a cause for alarm like and what they should do is get head protection for the players.