Chin~Music

Assuming that you are referring to last summer's Olympic women's boxing, it is indeed a complex issue. If you listen only to FOX News & other right wing media outlets, a man was allowed to compete against women in women's boxing. If you listen to any other media outlet (anywhere to the left of FOX News), you have an individual who has always been female, raised as female, & has always competed as female who all of a sudden has one sports entity disqualifying her because she has too much of something naturally occurring in her system. (I never have been able to ascertain whether it was testosterone or something else.) I have not followed the situation closely enough to know whether anything more came to light or not, but I personally have not read any account of any surgical procedures or drug therapies involved. Which begs a whole lot of questions. At what point does someone with XX chromosomes have so much of something within their system that they are no longer considered female? And what of those with the XXY characteristic or those born with both sets of reproductive organs? What are they? Do we have to come up with a completely separate classification for Olympic (& other) sports. To me it this case seems clear. If she has XX chromosomes, has always been raised as, trained as, & competed as a woman, & there's no evidence of doping or hormone therapies, I don't care how much testosterone her body produces, she's a woman. If she's been building that testosterone up artificially, then she can be disqualified from competition on those grounds (just as we constantly complained about the Eastern European Bloc with steroids & have since had Lance Armstrong confess concerning doping), but she's still a woman. Otherwise, tough noogies. Some people are simply born with superior athletic potential. Others just work harder. Life's not fair, we're not all guaranteed a square deal. Agree upon the rules & stand by them. But don't change them mid-contest just because you realize someone has the advantage. Leave that for "Calvin & Hobbes".

nice

This is difficult to answer because: Crucially.... Any barrier that prevents a person being what they want to be is a limitation to their freedom. In this there is potentially a dual limitation: A. On women in sports that require strength and power. A genetically born male now female, irrespective of hormones, competing at that level could impose a barrier to other women without that genetic advantage by potentially limiting them from realising their competitive potential. B. Transgender women have a right to compete in sport. If this right is removed we are limiting their freedom. In my book everyone can be who they want to be and nobody's freedom should be reduced because of who they are and/or how they choose to identify. I have close friends who have deeply struggled. Freedom is a very precious thing. This question you are shedding light on is particularly sensitive because 2 freedoms are opposed. I don't know about you, but I don't like anything that stops my freedom, and I would also hate to get in the way of another person's freedom too. As for bathrooms. I think one for all is fine. That is my opinion, and how wonderful that I am free to share it. Like Dani says below... dialogue,.discussion, consideration... is everything. I have faith in humanity. We will find our away.

This is a really thoughtful piece. You've clearly given this issue a lot of thought, and I appreciate your honesty about your confusion. I think a lot of people share your concerns about fairness and the impact on women's sports. On one hand, there's the principle of inclusion and allowing transgender women to participate in the sports category that aligns with their gender identity. On the other hand, there are concerns about fairness and the potential for biological advantages that may have developed before transition. Finding a balance that respects both inclusivity and fair competition is a real challenge. There's no easy answer, and it's a conversation that needs to continue with input from athletes, coaches, medical professionals, and the transgender community itself.

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Terrific article!!! Loved it!!! Congratulations on the Leaderboard Honerable Mentions!!!❤️❤️💕

Open, respectful, and honest dialogue is the way forward with EVERYTHING my friend! Problems tend to surface when people don't know how to express themselves but this is an opportunity for growth. You have asked good questions Jay!

Jay, your honest article prompts a lot of excellent debate. I'm with John. We should be able to discuss things without it escalating but we're losing the ability to do that and that is a shame. However, I am heartened by the comments that this article has engendered (if that's not a pun too tactless). I'm a live and let live sort of gal - you know that. I think people should be allowed to live as they want to live as long as they are not harming others in the process. And therein lies another debate which brings me to your point about sports and how the transgender issue is being dealt with in the arena. I don't know what the answer is. We live in a world where we talk about inclusion all the time but there has to be some regulation in this, surely? What that needs to be, I don't know. Maybe, like the paralympics, they should create degrees of difference and categorise opponents according to physical attributes rather than just gender or transgender? I don't know. What is clear is it's a thorny issue and a sensitive one. I found your sketch funny, you know that but I can also see how as someone who is experiencing the fight to be accepted as a transgender female might deem it insensitive and be offended by it and it was explicit in what it was showing. I know that you are not a man who wants to upset people. This piece is about expressing your view and you are entitled to that and I, for one, want to hear it. I might not agree with it but I want to hear it. I'm with Rommi. Individual bathrooms, changing room cubicles - problem solved. When I go swimming, I shower with men afterwards. Steady on....wait a minute... It's open plan- if anyone tried to do something to me, they would be seen and vice versa. But the cubicles where I get naked are individual - locked door. I feel safe although I don't hang about! It's about mutual respect, I think. We should always treat others with respect. It's getting difficult nowadays to know what the expectation for respectful behaviour is but healthy debate is part of it. As always, Jay, great writing. Brit Bud - over and out.

Very interesting article. I think people have the right to be who they are. As for the sports, my initial instinct is to say it's not fair for Trans women to compete against bio women. However, I am not educated enough on the topic of hormones, etc to have a confirmed opinion yet.

Ah, J-bud, this one defintely treads on bumpy ground. I have opinions, but will keep most of them to myself. Within this community, and my life, I don't generally judge people by their life choices. How are things in your neck of the woods? D-bud

Voltaire: "Truly, whoever is able to make you absurd is able to make you unjust." --commonly quoted as ‘Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities’ Questions sur les miracles (1765)

Hi Jay. You've picked a tricky subject and I would give an opinion if I was trans or playing against someone who is trans. There are so many more important things going on in the world than the very small arena of professional sports. I hope you haven't been affected by the fires in California and I hope your government deals with it correctly and not politically.

I'm all for people identifying as whatever gender and transitionsing to that. But I agree with you that transfemale should not compete with biofemale

Totally get where you're coming from! It’s a tricky issue, balancing fairness and respecting people’s rights. Everyone’s got their own take on it, and it’s tough to figure out what’s fair for all sides. Definitely important to keep the convo open and respectful though. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

I can agree with Canuck Scriber Lisa Lachapelle in that "I don't care who you have sex with...and I don't want to hear about it, either. Keeping it to yourself is the best policy for everyone" But I can also agree with Jay that when there is no common sense in areas of sport, that common sense talk must happen. It has ALWAYS been my argument that transgenders should compete in their own league. Biological women should not be judged unfairly. Now, to the point of Jay's bathroom depiction...I will tell you of a personal experience with a transgender nurse friend of mine. I liked her personally and professionally, but I was shocked when "she" told me she was attracted to me and wanted to have sex with me (as a man) before "she had an operation." (The answer was a resounding NO from me for those curious.) From then on, I did NOT feel comfortable sharing a bathroom with her. I would not label Jay as unkind...just honest. (Not saying that my personal experience happens to everyone or that all transgenders might also be like my nurse friend, either.) All of this is quite confusing and most of us have no malicious or unkind intent, but expressing concerns without fear should be open to all on this forum.

I really believe that people have the right to live their lives as they choose. However, there are a few men who have transitioned or are transitioning to female that are enjoying success in female sports due to greater testosterone. If I was a woman athlete who was eclipsed in my sport due to that advantage, I would not like it either. But that's only part of what this kerfuffle is about. Simple answers to any issue are rare. There is still a great deal of animosity toward the other in this nation and it will produce more suffering than good in the end. The law that congress just passed in naval parlance was a shot across the bow. Or if you will, a backlash. It was not decided by consensus, but by a narrow political divide. I wish more than anything else that this was an issue of intelligent give and take, but in the current hyper-political environment that seems an impossibility. But it is the desire for freedom that drives this issue. Freedom to be who we want to be, and I want that as much as anyone. Unfortunately, when the pendulum swings it always swings too far. It is certainly doing that now. And I am frightened by how far it will swing. I agree with Judey reference the cartoon of Edwina. It definitely comes off as unkind.

I do t know if I can keep it brief but I will try. 1) when someone transitions from male to female they likely take hormones their entire life. This makes huge changes to not only their muscle mass (reduced) but also their penis/scrotum and sex drive (shrinks). They are literally not the man they once presented to be. 2) hormones are also a lifelong need for those transitioning from female to male- and in this case the muscle mass and body structure also alters. 3) the sketch you made of Edwina just makes me very sad. Presenting someone that once presented male and is now female (trans woman) as some type of man in drag, is both demeaning and unkind. I had enough of that to sadden me for eternity during the past pres. campaign. 4) Portraying boxing as the header puts me in mind of the recent Olympics where a biological/born (aka cis gender) woman was accused of being a cis gender man. She wasn’t, but that, too was falsely spread. 5) I have people dear to me that now live lives as they always knew they should. Some men were once called women and some women once called men. None are a threat to me. None have made my life worse. They have made my world better. 6) and last: the number of people, that participate in any sports is a small percent of the all people that exist. Of that small percent, and extremely smaller percent of people may by transgender. And that small percent likely has altered their body structure through hormones and exercise and has the same range of athleticism (no more or less) than their cisgender teammates. This is a nonissue. Not numbered, but true: I have a gender neutral restroom in my home. We call it the bathroom. I still love you, Jk1

Dearest Jay, I as a rule, generally avoid most political subjects, but I don't think biological males-transitioning-to-females should compete on the same level as bio-female athletes. I don't think it's physically fair. But I could be in the minority. Sincerely, Mother

I had to fill out a form yesterday for a club, it asked if I was non binary, LGBTQ, etc. I wrote "Celibate," because I was none of the above. I thought the question was offensive. What's that got to do with anything? I personally don't want to know what someone is, I don't care. From their perspective I understand they want to identify because in a world of bullies there is strength in numbers.