Transgender Athletes: A Little Farther Down the Road

Sometimes the answer lies a little farther down the road. The 1965 history changing Selma to Montgomery Alabama civil rights march is consecrated ground in our national consciousness for inclusion and fairness. Interestingly, if you continue the Martin Luther King led protest march route north on State Highway 80 for 23 miles to Marion, AL, a small hint to the solution of one of the many endless cultural wars, athletic Transgender rights, we now engage in, can perhaps be gleamed.  

Stating obvious common sense: when a biological male discovers they can no longer psychologically fit into their birth gender and seeks to transfer out of it to compete with and against physically less-competitive females, it is a disservice to women’s athletics. When female athletes are unfairly required to compete against transgender women who, as biological men, have markedly higher testosterone levels, all the Title IX gains of the last 50 years potentially disappear. Female athletics should not become the hunting ground for underachieving birth right male athletes. 

It was so simple. Title IX came along in 1972 and the world became fairer. Just line ‘em up for a plumbing check. Outdoor to the right, indoor to the left and let the games begin. Let the best man or women - on separate but theoretically equal playing fields - win. It took time, but everybody stayed in their lane and female athletics boomed. Now this. But, in the pre-Jackie Robinson days, blacks had their own league where only the ball was white. Back in the days when America was great for some, America resisted the impending social upheaval of the crazy idea that blacks and whites should compete on the same ball diamond. So, who am I to tell a transgender athlete how they feel and where they should play? 

Transgenderism is a scientific proved fact of life. These are human beings deserving of respect and rights. They are equal members of society. However, as we have evolved as a more and more inclusive society, we have learned that equality does not mean giving special status to all not fitting the profile of a round peg. 

In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a racist edict that passed the smell test of the times. In Plessy v. Ferguson, despite the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause banning states from denying “equal protection” to any person in their jurisdictions, separately designated train cars for whites and blacks, for example, were deemed constitutional if they were “equal.” It was wrong- and in reality, seldom equal - and eventually our society demanded an overturn. 

It took 50 years to reverse Plessy v. Ferguson. In 1954 the Brown v. Board of Education decision said that equal means equal. Implementation, however, has not been simple or rapid. It took another 18 years for Title IX to expand to the nation’s ball fields the rights of another less privileged group. Once again, the court said, “Equal means equal,” and upheld the constitutionality of Senator Birch Bye’s Title IX revolution. 

Now, buckle up again. In 2023 the courts will inevitably revisit Title IX and determine the extent of Transgender rights to compete in sports. In this case, in my opinion, common sense and fairness says, “equal does not mean equal,” but separate. 

One hundred and one years ago, in 1922, the Alabama Crimson Tide opened the football season against the state’s Marion Military Institute. Bama crushed the junior college upstarts, located 50 miles south of their massive state flagship campus by an equally massive score of 110-0. According to news reports of the day, “only the summer temperatures and the short quarters prevented Alabama from making the score a regular landslide.” Marion had one first down but was “never in hearing distance of the Crimson goal.” The two never played the other in a football game again.

This fall on September 9, 101 years after the 110-0 beat down, the University of Alabama will take to the gridiron before 100,00 plus rabid fans to battle the Texas Longhorns. Marion Institute, founded in 1841 by a future Lieutenant Colonel in the army of the Confederate States of America, will toe the starting line for a cross-country meet at Huntington, AL College. They dropped their football program in 1941. A public funded military school, Marion has produced over 200 generals and admirals in the United States Armed Forces. Currently, 56 Bama football alumni are active members of National Football League rosters. 

Chill, folks. We have a way of figuring these types of things out. It is what Makes America Great to Begin With.