26
The NCAA and other organizations giving into Trump's orders is a positive sign for the future of the Democrats
The NCAA, as well as various corporations and sports leagues, have surprisingly easily given up on supporting men in women's spaces.
But think about what would be happening if Trump was doing something actually immoral - like making executive orders to ban foreign-born athletes from sports, or removing women's sports to only have one mixed-sex league. They'd fight against it tooth and nail, they'd refuse to comply, they'd organize protests, they'd paint their logos with trans colors just like they do with the rainbow during Pride month.
Instead, they're just giving up. Why? Because deep down they know it's wrong, they know it's bad for their public image, they know they were only supporting it because it was politically correct and their livelihoods would have been at risk if they took a stand against TIMs. Now that an authority figure has given them someone else to blame, they feel free to ban the TIMs and tell them "sorry, I totally would have let you continue invading women's spaces and infringing on women's rights, but I had no choice! Blame Trump, not me!"
Riley Gaines can verify that this is what was going on - athletes and coaches were quietly telling her that they support her but can't do so publicly without putting themselves at risk.
So while the Democrats are unfortunately still in a place where they're required to virtue signal and insist they're on the side of trans rights, quite a few of them are not true believers. This probably means that even if in 2028 they take control of Congress and the White House, they won't try to reverse Trump's actions and get back into this mess a second time. They'll still be free to blame Trump and pretend it's difficult to change things back.
It reminds me of when Republicans lost the battle on gay marriage. Hopefully the Democrats are also smart enough to take the approach of publicly saying "this doesn't align with my beliefs but I will follow the law" as an excuse to avoid getting involved in a losing issue, and soon their activist base will give up and move onto another issue.
Unfortunately, Democratic Party officials and school authorities in several "blue states" are doubling down in defense of state policies that allow males to participate in girls & women's sports and use girls' & women's locker rooms if they say they have a trans, non-binary or other "diverse" gender identity.
After Trump signed the executive order "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" on Wednesday, the Connecticut Attorney General, William Tong, issued a press release late that's now on the state's official website. It says:
02/05/2025
Attorney General Tong Statement on Trump Executive Order Threatening to Defund Schools Who Do Not Discriminate Against Transgender Athletes
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General Tong issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s executive order threatening to defund schools to who do not discriminate against transgender athletes:
“This is meanspirited and unlawful, and deeply harmful to all Connecticut students.
"The U.S. Supreme Court made it clear in Bostock that discrimination against transgender individuals is illegal under federal law. We will not allow Title IX to be unlawfully misused to degrade women and girls and defund our schools, colleges, and universities. We will strongly oppose any attempt to strip Connecticut schools of funding merely because they are following a policy that aligns with the law.
“Trump is going to do this again and again. He’s going to try to tell us we have two choices, to inflict terrible harm on Connecticut families, or accept the consequences of his lawless draconian threats. We need to remember there is always a third option—to stand together and fight back. That’s what we are going to do.”
Photo of William Tong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tong#/media/File:Richard_Blumenthal_and_William_Tong_(cropped).jpg
On Thursday, Washington state education Superintendent Chris Reykdal [a man] issued an even more hard-hitting press release opposing the Trump EO ""Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports." The release is now up on the official website of the WA state education office:
State Superintendent Chris Reykdal’s Statement on President Trump’s Order to Discriminate Against Trans Female Athletes
February 6, 2025
Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order that aims to require educational institutions to discriminate against trans female athletes in order to receive federal funding. State Superintendent Chris Reykdal’s statement is below.
OLYMPIA—February 6, 2025—In another attempt to override the authority of states and local school districts, yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order that requires educational institutions to agree to discriminate against trans female athletes in order to continue receiving federal funds.
Through this order, the President attempts to restrict transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports with their peers and withhold federal funds from school districts that do not comply with these discriminatory actions.
We are working closely with the Attorney General’s Office to understand the next steps for our state and for our school districts in response to this unlawful order.
One thing is clear: The 47th President of the United States is disregarding the rule of law by attempting to unilaterally impose an attack on the specific student groups that anti-discrimination laws aim to protect.
The President’s order directly contradicts state law, including the Washington Law Against Discrimination, and our laws prohibiting discrimination in our public schools. Our state law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity, and we will not back down from that.
Washington state will do everything in our power to defend the rule of law, states' rights to establish education policy, and to protect the beautiful diversity of our 1.1 million students and educators. We believe in inclusion over discrimination, and love over hate.
Photo of Chris Reykdal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Reykdal#/media/File:Chris_Reykdal_at_Comcast_Leaders_&_Achievers_Scholarship_Reception_2017.jpg
A spokesperson in Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown’s office reportedly said in an email Thursday that
We are repulsed by the president’s dehumanization of the trans community. This and other orders are clearly part of the administration’s larger plan to strip away civil rights across society.”
The WA's AG's office said they
“still looking at this order” and they're “limited in what we can say in terms of providing legal advice or analysis.”
In the meantime, the office recommends WIAA, college-level sports, and other state-level athletic bodies seek advice from their legal counsel.“
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/06/trump-ban-trans-athletes-girls-sports-washington-state/
According to Fox News,
The State of California and its public school athletics association have indicated California will not fall in line with President Donald Trump's latest executive order to keep trans athletes out of girls' and women's sports.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow the state's law that allows athletes to participate as whichever gender they identify as, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Unfortunately, I can't access the SF Chronicle article to see exactly what CIF has said. There's no info on the CIF website or any other CA state website that I've been able to find.
Virginia school sports authorities have said they will defy Trump's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order as well.
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Virginia High School League (VHSL) announced that, as of Thursday, it is not following President Donald Trump’s recent executive order and will continue to allow transgender women to play on women’s high school sports teams.
On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Trump issued an executive order meant to keep those assigned male at birth from playing on girl’s and women’s sports teams. It does this by, in part, keeping federal funding from programs that do not comply.
“[Trans women participating on these teams] is demeaning, unfair and dangerous to women and girls and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports,” Trump wrote in the order.
On Thursday, Feb. 6, a spokesperson for the VHSL told 8News that it will not be removing transgender women from any of its women’s high school sports teams.
"We will continue following the current policy and the current law in Virginia," said Mike McCall, the VHSL’s director of communications.
https://www.wric.com/high-school-sports/vhsl-trans-women-sports-teams/
Officials at the Massachusetts Interscholastic Activiities Association officials have said they are getting legal advice and reviewing their options, but it's their intent to stick with the state laws and state school athletics federation rules that allow males to compete in girls and women's school sports.
“The MIAA will continue to follow the law, as well as the advice of counsel, as it pertains to issues of gender and participation," said the MIAA in a statement to The Patriot Ledger.
Democratic Party officials in a number of states have also pointed out that Trump's EO only applies to school sports at schools that get federal funding - and thus it has no bearing on private school sports or community, club and professional sports.
I am curious, it's all based on cutting off funding from the federal government, right? So what happens if the admin just cuts the government budget, reduces the taxes, and says there are no funds anymore?
Whilst Title IX only applies to schools and education programs that receive federal funding, I believe the federal government can take other legal action against states that use state laws and state policies that have the force of law to deny girls and women fair treatment and equality opportunity in education and in sports more generally.
I imagine the US Department of Justice can sue states/state authorities like the federations, or partake in lawsuits against them, on the grounds that they are denying female athletes and student-athletes the right to be treated fairly under the law guaranteeed by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution
So it would depend on how courts interpret the language/whether women include TiMs or not, in the long run? Because EOs only act as stopgap measures
Yes, federal legislation is needed to give girls and women the explicit right to female-only sports and spaces. And SCOTUS needs to clarify the meaning of sex in Title IX. SCOTUS also needs to make a ruling on all the state laws that give people who claim to have a trans, nonbinary or other "diverse" gender identity special rights that no one else in the USA gets, starting with the right to pretend that their claimed gender idenities somehow change, supplant or matter more than their sex.
Given that even under the Biden administration, the federal government has always held that sex matters more than gender idenity when it comes to registration for the US Selective Service, it seems to me that state and local laws which give more credence to gender identity than sex are on shaky ground. In most areas of contemporary life, neither sex nor gender identity matter. But in those areas where one or the other does matter, then I think sex is going to win out over gender identity.
But it needs to be explicitly said by the courts that there is a difference between sex and gender, right? Because even in media, like in the link I posted below, even organizations like CNN are saying words like "banned Transgender Females". That word doesn't mean anything
I kept thinking, oh hey, that’s probably why they only saw 79 percent voted against in the “transgender female in women’s sports” polling. A large percentage of people still have no idea that made up cult language like trans female means male 🤪. With clear language in the poll they would get 90% or more, I’m sure. Lying and misdirection is a big part of trans and gender bullshit.
They get to save face by claiming they are now "forced" to finally play fair, rather than admit they voluntarily threw women under the bus and it was starting to make them look like idiots.
I'm not sure, but in the meantime, I'll keep some hope for the future.
Yes, they needed a CYA to get out of the ridiculous corner they had painted themselves into. Trump is thus a deus ex machina for them.
CNN: “You rarely get 79% of the country to agree on anything — but they do, in fact, agree on the idea of opposing” MEN in WOMEN’S sports.
https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1887500523563081786
Good Liberal Friend politely suggested that we should have a "third category" for transwomen under this CNN clip on Facebook and is currently being slammed as a segregationist by the right side of history. Also, someone called her ugly which is apparently relevant for some reason.
Let the peaking commence.
Besides, third categories and spaces have been tried - the men in dresses don't want them. No one signs up. Turns it it's not actually about being able to play the sport, who knew! The intrusion is the goal!
This. These men don’t care about actually playing. It was all about the thrill and euphoria boners of intruding in women’s spaces. None of the AGPs want a trans league.
They want the guarantee of winning. They can't collect trophies and accolades if they can't cheat.