Playing Games with a Transgender Sports Ban

On Wednesday morning, the Office of the Virginia Attorney General in the Barbara Johns Building hosted a press conference for a ban on transgender athletes in public schools in Virginia. The rhetoric was more like the John Birch Society than Barbara Jones, the civil rights activist who organized a sit-in for equal opportunities as a high school student.

At this press conference was Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Lieutenant Governor Winsome, Sears Attorney General Jason Miyares, and former college swimmer, Riley Gaines who has made a name for herself by coming tied for fifth place with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.

In 2022 Lia Thomas became the visceral image of excluding transgender athletes in sports as she stand taller than her competitors at the NCAA Swimming Championship.

"Men have taken hundreds of victories from women in completions they should have never entered." Miyares said. "Each of those victories, each of them represents a loss of opportunity to women. A dream deferred or a dream destroyed" Certainly has not destroyed the opportunities of Riley Gaines as she hosts a podcast on Fox News and launched the Riley Gaines Center with the conservative think tank Leadership Institute in Northern Virginia.

Glenn Youngkin remarked on a hypothetical "if my daughter had to compete against biological males in sports then I would be angry about fairness in sports. I would be angry about the violation of her rights that were suppose to be protected under Title IX but I would be fearful of her safety."

Title IX of the Civil Rights Act prohibits sex-based discrimination, including transgender students.

"Biological males" is not a legal term that exist in Virginia's Code of Law. It might sound scientific but it's a term almost exclusively used to describe transgender women.

"Sports is important. Sports teaches us so much. I have to say I was on a losing college basketball team but I learned more about life. I learned more about teamwork. I learned more about... yes how to be a gracious loser." Youngkin said standing next to Riley Gaines. Youngkin continued about the bill that would remove transgender from sports in public schools. "But my friends, that is something we can not rip away from girls and women."

The next day, two of the three proposed bills were heard in the Senate Subcommitte on Public Education. Hearing the bills was short and done in less than an hour because the bills were the same as last year, or even the year before that.

At the Senate Republicans first press conference at the beginning of the year, one of their four priorities was "Defend Women's Sports." I asked what would be different in passing legislation this year, Senator Ryan McDougle remarked "experience."

The Subcommitte meeting did not have Riley Gaines give public comment (although she did two years ago.) There were no horror stories from athletes in Virginia's public schools. One parent said that her daughter was injured in a preseason college volleyball game, not a Virginia public school and would not be affected by the proposed law.

Senator Mulchi was asked by Senator Stella Pekarsky if she knew how many students had requested for waivers to complete as transgender students? Mulchi was not aware as Pekarsky said it was four, three transgender girls and one transgender boy. Only two transgender girls were granted waivers to compete. A policy to prevent two trans athletes in all of Virginia. A far cry from Attorney General Myiares claim that hundreds of victories have been stolen.

In her closing words, Senator Mulchi argued that her daughter was injured in a co-ed soccer match. She said her daughter did not have an option to play on a girl's team. There's no bill to ban co-ed soccer or an effort to defend women's sports by ensuring high school girl leagues, even if they had to share that league with a trans girl.