Several sports governance groups recently held a conference in Finland. One of the panel discussions was entitled “Who has a right to compete? Exploring the inclusion of transgender athletes in sport.” Among the panelists was Joanna Marie Harper, an adjunct professor at Western University in London, Canada. Joanna is a transgender female and has participated in competitive long distance running events since 1971. Joanna had moderate success running as a man with impressive times that averaged apparently around 2 1/2 hours for a marathon. Around 2004 is when Joanna decided to transition, becoming a woman.
John Pike is a professor of philosophy at The Open University in England. He made the point, based upon factual data, that transgender females have a biological advantage in most sports over biological women. His data was not only supported by the science, but by citing the number of medals won by transgenders in the Olympic sports over the last several years. Most of the transgender women competing in the women's division were mediocre when competing in the men's division. This has pushed biological women not only off of the podium, but out of competition.
Harper's response was very telling. She said that an open division would be 99% cisgender male. So, what you are asking is for a trans woman to compete in a category which is virtually entirely CIS men and just call it an open category. "Most trans women, myself included, would quit the sport rather than be forced to compete in such a category." She expressed no concern for the women who are forced to compete in the category that include biological men and have been forced to quit their sport. Joanna says she would voluntarily quit, but these women who have been displaced by transgender females didn't make that choice voluntarily.
Joanna and other supporters of transgender females competing in women's divisions have said they only do so for the love of the sport. If it's not about winning, then what's wrong with competing in an open division? What's wrong with staying in the men's division? Because it's not about competing for the joy of the sport, it's about winning and when you can't beat the best in your division then you go looking for a different division where you can compete.
Harper is admitting that transgender women cannot compete against other males. Joanna has published a paper in which she claims that her competitive race times decreased by 12% after she began transitioning. At the time, she was 42 or 43. Of course she is going to slow down. It happens to all of us. Competitive race results show that 40-year-old males run about 9-11% slower than 25-year-old males. A fact that she excluded from her "peer reviewed study."
Transgender women who insist upon competing with biological females are not simply playing for the joy of the sport. They are trying to soothe their damaged egos as their skills naturally deteriorate. They are trying to reclaim past glory at the expense of others. When they can't get their way, they throw a temper tantrum and claim discrimination. Imagine if I was to show up at a Junior PGA golf tournament and demand to play in the under 12 division, because emotionally I identify as a 12-year-old. (My wife might agree with that assessment at times) Then throwing a temper tantrum and filing a lawsuit to force them to allow me to play. I would be ridiculed and rightfully so. But for some reason we are supposed to treat transgender females differently and bow to their every demand? I don't think so.
It's time we stood our ground and let the science and morality guide us. Remind these people that their decisions come with consequences, some of which they may not like. But that is their decision to make and they are not free of the consequences.
