LGBT

And thank you for being an ally and listening and being supportive

Someone - Drumpf? Some think tank? - decided in 2022 that the focus of attack for the QOP is the trans community. If it's not trying to prevent teens from getting treatment and transitioning, it's going off about women's sports. If it's not women's sports, it's bathrooms. The whole thing comes down to irrational fear and/or hatred of the trans community. For them, sports are just a means to bludgeon trans people. If Lia Thomas never existed, they would've invented her - just like they did with the "welfare mom who could buy a Cadillac" 40 years ago.

I did participate in sports as a teen, thinking something was wrong with me, I'm crazy, trying to over-compensate to "be normal", etc.. Some of which I enjoyed and I'm glad I did (baseball). Some of which I wish I'd never done (football). As much as I loved sports and as much as everyone wants "Fair play", the reality is discrepancies in talent will always exist. No matter how hard I worked, I was never going to be a pro. I was probably 95% effort, 5% talent at best. Nothing was going to change the fact, regardless of gender, that a good number of these players were far superior to me. Quite a few got scholarships. At least one got drafted and played in the minor leagues. Would being on the field with players that superior to me be "unfair"? Some people probably think so. It's just reality.

Babe Ruth's offensive numbers during his career were 106% better than the average player during the time he played. Wilt Chamberlain was a 7'1" track star who just happened to be skilled in basketball, and made the rest of the league look silly thanks to his combination of size and talent.

For 99.9% of athletes in high school, and probably 95% in college, the only thing that's going to come from it is competing and perhaps a scholarship. These people will finish school and go onto some other profession. Only the best of the best - and only in certain sports - are going to go from being a student athlete to a pro athlete. Many are going to look back with fond memories, or sit on the sofa like Al Bundy and talk about their 4 touchdown game.

I love golf with a passion... Well, the game. Can't say I much enjoy the culture. But if you were to give me the best clubs in the world, and have me go out without any transitioning at all to face the best female player in the world... I'd be lucky to lose by only 60 strokes. "Broad shoulders" and "puberty" and "chromosomes" would not change the biggest issue there: Lack of talent.

I've also poked around on the social media pages of a few of my right-wing ex-friends. They of course are screaming about "getting 'men' out of women's sports" and "fair play!" Cool story, bros. Because you know how they felt about women's sports prior to 2022? "The only role that women have in sports is to be hot cheerleaders", "Sports are for men, not girls!" and "Get out! The boys are watching sports! Wait... While you're here? Gimme a beer and a sammich!" When this battle gets resolved, they'll go back to "Quit wasting money on stupid stuff like gymnastics and give that money to the footbaw program!" and derogatory, misogynistic comments about the WNBA.

As far as the affect we're seeing of these awful bills? There is one state where they passed one of these bills and there is one trans athlete in the state. One. They were playing field hockey... not anymore. Now there is this golfer in Tennessee who is likely in a catch-22: Female to male, not allowed to golf with the boys... but the moment he tries to join the girls' team, they'll scream "Unfair advantage!" because of taking hormones, and kick him off the boys team. The result? Not allowed to play golf at all.

And this is why some of us speak up so loudly... Because that's the desired result. It's not about "use the right bathroom" or "play on the right team"... It's about "don't use any bathroom" and "don't play at all" and, well... Let's not kid ourselves. The QOP flat-out does not want us to exist.