Melody Wood writes at CNSNews.com:
How far does the NBA want transgender "rights" to go?
The NBA stepped into the culture war with its recent decision to move the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, citing "the climate created by HB2," the bill that requires government single-sex bathrooms be available only to people on basis of the sex on their birth certificate.
And in so stepping, the NBA may have landed upon a minefield of massive proportion. This is because, as Wood writes, "Bathrooms and locker rooms aren't the only area where transgender activists could demand changes. In fact, sports itself -- not just the bathrooms used by its fans -- could be affected."
Has the politically correct NBA actually thought through where its position leads when applied to other areas of life? Consider: "Would the NBA's sister organization, the WNBA, be willing to let any current NBA player who decides to identify as a female compete on a woman's team?," Wood asks.
Human beings in fact are physically diverse, with enjoyable differences -- attractive inequalities, one might say -- due to any number of factors, including the sexual biological given of whether one is male or female.
And if you want lack of joy, and structural unfairness, try pretending these differences are somehow unreal or simply don't matter or can be overridden by personal feelings or political dictates.
Wood notes how such a pretense would impact negatively upon the WNBA:
Of course, allowing biological men into the WNBA could be unfair to current WNBA players and the many women and girls who aspire to a career in basketball. After all, the average male in his 20s outjumps 95 percent of all women of the same age, and only a handful of WNBA players can dunk.
But if the NBA believes preferred gender identity, not biological sex, is what matters, it naturally follows that men who now identify as women, perhaps without even having any medical treatment, should play in the WNBA, not NBA.
The terminus point of transgender theorizing is clear: Denying the biological facts of life is itself a pathway to unfairness and new forms of discrimination. Surely, there's a better way to cast out old demons than by inviting in new demons.
It is crucial to understand the real-world results of this political ideology that requires an alienation from one's physicality. "If all women's sports are opened to those who identify as women, regardless of genetics, biology, muscle mass, physiology, hormones, and bone structure -- in other words, regardless of sex -- we'll begin seeing many more girls and women who won't be able to compete because of physical differences between men and women," Wood writes.
"This just isn't fair to women athletes and would reverse the long fought battles to end discrimination against women and girls in sports," she argues.
"The NBA's decision to move the All-Star Game from Charlotte is an unnecessary use of cultural cronyism to promote a political ideology currently in vogue," Wood concludes. "And the ideology it is promoting may eventually lead to the demise of women's sports as a unique venue where women can compete and win fairly."
Life precedes sport, and itself affirms a fact-based set of rules. Follow them and there's beauty -- both in life and in sport. Ignore them, and it's game over.
