By CRAIG CAMPBELL
Women have long struggled to be equal members of society with men. For over 100 years, American women advocated for, and successfully secured legal protections for an equal opportunity to compete in what was a male dominated world.
Women now face a direct threat to their hard-fought achievements by the current politically vogue movement to establish transgenders as equals to men and women.
Let me be clear, this elevation of transgender protections constructs a new barrier for women and creates an environment where biological women will be denied opportunities.
Some reading this piece will vehemently disagree with my analysis and resort to an intellectually lazy name-calling behavior. Let’s get that out of the way up front: I’ll be called a homophobe, misogynist, sexist, transphobic, racist, terrorist, white supremacists, and God-knows what other politically nasty terms they can find.
Of course, they are wrong. I will present a fact-based, science-supported position that is contrary to their political objective. Oh well, be that as it may, here is the ugly truth about transgender “equity.”
There is an absolute difference between biological men and women. When a person is born, their chromosome make-up establishes their sex. XY is male. XX is female. That’s a fact.
Society has generally agreed that gender, defined as “an internal or external expression of the way a person feels,” is also part of our make-up. Most of the time a person’s biological sex is the same as the person’s gender. Sometimes it is not. Some people can be born anatomically as one sex and identify more with the opposite sex. It’s called gender dysphoria.
Today, the great debate is whether the law should protect a person based on their biological sex or their gender identity. The trend in the U.S. is toward trying to equally protect both. That can’t be done and conflicts arise which has proven harmful to protecting a biological women’s right to equal opportunity. In the end, making gender identity a protected class emasculates women’s attainments towards true equality.
This is not about who uses a bathroom, or what a person may do with their willing partner in private. It’s about recognizing the difference between feelings and physical characteristics, protecting the achievements in women’s rights, and creating a society where women have every opportunity to succeed.
There are plenty of recent examples where transgender women have blown away biological women in sports competition. Transgender Rachael McKinnon recently won the Master Track Cycling World Championship in the female 35-39 category; transgender Lia Thomas from the University of Pennsylvania is smashing female swimming records in almost every category; and New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard became the first transgender woman to compete in the Olympics.
Explaining why this is happening isn’t rocket science.
There are physical differences that give males a distinct strength advantage over females. Men have larger lungs and hearts, which provide greater physical strength and endurance. A jogging man uses about 50% lung capacity, while a woman uses about 70% lung capacity. Men have greater upper body muscular strength and are typically around 30% physically stronger than women. Men generally have a leaner body fat percentage than women.
Need I go on?
Despite transgender women taking female hormone estrogen and testosterone-blockers, it does not change lung capacity, heart size, upper body strength, endurance, or other physical features that give men the advantage. How does this provide a fair competitive environment for females when men have a physical advantage over women in competitive sports?
But the issue is deeper than simply body strength in sports. Is a transgender woman actually a woman? Taking away the political agendas and emotional arguments, a transgender woman is still a man. Despite estrogen induced breast enhancements, long hair, make-up, shaving all body hair, and other actions to change a person’s appearance, the physical person is still either a XX or XY. Estrogen and testosterone-blocker treatments only block and/or alter the composition of the person. In many cases transgender women retain the male genitalia and do not undergo sex reassignment surgery.
A 2015 study found that nearly two-thirds of transgender women remained sexually attracted to women after their transition. These would not be lesbian feelings because a majority of transgender women sexually perform as men. Research has discovered that many transgenders retain their biological sex drive. Are you confused yet? That said, it does not dimmish the fact that some people have very distinct emotional feelings which are opposite from their biological sex.
The inequality against women also extends into the historically male dominated business world. Over the past few decades advancements have been made to open executive business leadership and director positions to qualified women. If women are competing for senior level business positions against transgender women and a transgender woman is selected, was a woman really elevated in the male dominated business world? I’ll leave that for you to ponder.
Both women and transgender women may join the military but the U.S. has never required women to register for the draft. If women do not have to register for the draft, does that exempt transgender women from registering? I grew up during the Vietnam War era, where draft dodging was a national sport. Yeah, I had friends that went to Canada to avoid being drafted. I guess now a male who wants to dodge the draft, simply can identify as a transgender woman to avoid registering for the Selective Service. This is the Pandora’s box that is opened when common sense is thrown out the window and society tries to accommodate every persons desire, even for groups that account for less than one percent of our nation’s population.
There is currently strong public resistance to recognizing gender identity as a protected class equal to a person’s biological sex. Yet our elected officials are hell-bent on forcing a societal change that is not science based but is based on “feelings.” The Biden Administration intends to expand Title IX protections to cover transgender students in schools that accept federal funding. If successful, the intent is to expand this requirement to other programs that accept federal funding.
Congress is considering the “Fairness for All Act” to codify gender identity as a protected class. This is bad, really bad. The glass ceiling restricted women from achieving equality with men. Actions like the “Fairness for All Act” will make it harder for women to break through the glass ceiling. We should remind our congressional delegation that portion of the bill is not something Alaskans expect them to support.
It’s time to bring back some sanity. Women have every right to expect their elected officials to provide opportunities for advancement equal to that provided to men. Instead, they are now getting politicians who are hardening the glass ceiling, presenting another obstacle to equal opportunities.
Transgenders should be treated with respect, but the determining factor in equal rights must be made on a biological basis. You are either a man or women, as determined at birth, and that is what our laws should use to provide women greater opportunities to excel in the future. Period!
Craig Campbell is the former lieutenant governor and former Anchorage Assemblyman who has recently returned to assisting the Alaska Aerospace Program, where he was CEO from 2012 through 2019.
I’m a woman and am disgusted that this is even going on! No man has any right to share a bathroom or locker with a female. Just because they are having a gender identity crisis, does not negate them being where they do not belong. I have had an IT come into a female bathroom. It was the most revolting thing I as a 55 year old woman have to put up with this, let alone poor kids in school and competitions.
Woman everywhere that are tired of this need to stand up at every turn to fight this. If we do not, and we allow these sick individuals to compete as women when they are not, we are giving up. Meanwhile other good female athletes get blown out of the water because they are racing MALES. That is INEQUALITY ladies.. Where is all the uproar about that?? Why are you not standing up and fighting a garbage POTUS and their sick agenda to ignore a woman’s basic right to be safe in locker rooms or bathrooms? I’m over it. My husband stands at the door of any bathroom I go into. All I have to do, is call his name. More women need to stand up…. Stand up for their rights they are constantly barking about!!
You are correct and that things need to change legally. I agree with you 100%. I would caution your husband about denying someone their legal rights of entering a bathroom occupied by you. That might get him into deep water.
Alaskanriseup: I totally agree with you! preach it sister!
Recheck your XX and XY sentence. XY can write their names in the snow easier.
I have that fixed. Thanks – sd
Pretty well said Craig – and I applaud your courage in saying it. It’s time to stop the insanity, while still treating everyone with dignity and respect. How many rapes have to happen before guys in gals’ bathrooms is shown to be the fraud it really is? Pin this on the liberals. One minor goof – females have the XX chromosome, males are XY.
Thanks, Rich, I fixed that typo. – sd
So much for Title 9 in sports. Women just took a backseat to transmen. Welcome to the Lefty, new world order.
Yeah title nine is done. It’ll just be coed from now on.
The opaque glass ceiling for chicks with d*xx.
So, do we believe the feminists who tell us that men and women are the same, or the transgenders who go to great lengths and even surgery to fit a stereotype of what a woman might be? Both ignore that we are made in God’s image, male and female, on purpose and with deep meaning. But I guess once you kill God you can run amok, and that is what we see here. It is Satanic, and those who affirm those in their sins will not reach the Kingdom of Heaven, either.
That’s for God to decide not us. I have to assume that Noah’s sons made it to heaven after they sodomized the drunken Noah but I don’t know that for fact. Joshua killed a bunch of people for God, but I’m not sure I want to question God on the subject. People say God doesn’t make mistakes, but are a lot of questions left unanswered in this world.
A man had his favorite horse stolen and he asked his sons to retrieve it. His sons declined. Later his favorite daughter was kidnapped. His sons volunteered to rescue their sister but the man said; First, retrieve my favorite horse. His sons were confused, and asked why the horse? He said; If you had retrieved my horse, they wouldn’t have dared to kidnap my daughter.
The ladies aren’t boycotting events where a transgender man is competing. If they had done that from the very beginning there wouldn’t be any transgenders competing against them.
Winning a gold medal is very very hard. Second and third place is much easier. Whenever a transgender man competes in a woman’s event, they will almost automatically take first place, leaving the easier second and third place for the women to compete for. The transgender man winning first place gives a convenient excuse for the women to not win first place. “Well, how could I have won first? A transgender man was competing.” “But I won second, which is better than the other ladies did.” It’s a face saver for the forever second and third place ladies.
Olga Korbut underscored this mentality because the women lost to a child, of all things. Now that had to be embarrassing. So much so that the women worked hard to raise the age limit, so that they wouldn’t take the back seat to a child ever again. Olga’s come once in a generation, to win everything. The forever second and third placers hate them, the ones who kick them down to forever loser.
The women are saving face, but losing the race.
Women athletes want it both ways. To appear woke they call transgenders “women” but then complain about the competition. Anyone calling a transgender a woman must logically agree to let “her” participate in women’s sports. That includes the writer of the above article.
I have found, throughout my life, that XX women are amongst the strongest individuals that I have ever known, and that XY women are amongst the weakest men that I could ever have imagined…
This may sound cruel, but all you women who have felt you have chosen “compassion” by accepting this year after year, calling yourself an ally, addressing the men as “sisters” because they want you to, going along their charade as if it will become biological reality if you believe and “support” hard enough, YOU must absorb some of this blame. You didn’t know exactly what you were asking for. But you got it now. Sometimes sick revolution is disguised as compassion. Be careful what you tolerate.
And as is customary, the caveat: Transfolks are real humans with real feelings. I don’t hate them. But compassion can never be to treat them like a 4-year-old who thinks he is a tow truck or a princess or an astronaut. I treat them like adults who need truth in love.
Why is this even an argument? We now have to write articles to defend what God has done? It should always be based on biology at the time of birth. If a psychologically damaged person, due to our ridiculous public schools indoctrinating classes, decides they want to be the other sex, no problem. Just don’t ask the public to pay for it with their taxes and don’t expect to be sanctioned with special rights that you don’t deserve. Why is it that the rest of society must pay for and agree with a very confused person? We need to stop being jellyfish and tell it like it is, sheer idiocy!
In a very real sense the left is saying men make better women than women do
Why not? It’s worked so well locally, with Felix Rivera and Chris Constant being the worst, most nagging, most spiteful Karens on the municipal ass-embly.
Careful, Jefferson. You are close to code-talk for these (guys). ??
Yep, definitely would not want to cross the line!
That was supposed to be “… not want to cross the (pink) line.”
LOL…. if you cross their pink line you are either a homophobe, or, you become one of them. Easy does it, big guy!
Gender dysphoria is a psychological condition and should be treated by mental health professionals. Society has been bullied into a bizarre tacit acceptance of this condition as a “new normal” that requires changing all the rules, and particularly in sports, to the disadvantage of female athletes.
Mayor, you’re lagging behind my friend. “Mental health professionals” would now tell a man he is actually a woman if he feels so… and his male body is merely a problem in need of correction.
We all would be better off if everyone was treated as humans instead of genders that we agree, or disagree on. There are zero transgenders in Alaska sports that I am aware of. Education and school sports should be decided by local school boards, not a failed Alaskan politician. Providing restrooms for special needs people is not that difficult. Craig Campbell’s views are the minority and unconstitutional IMO.
Frank, there is no such thing as being “transgendered”. There are simply people with deep psychological problems, and hormone and surgery-mutilated bodies. One cannot change the genetic makeup that one is born with.
Local school boards?
Why not the parents in the district?
Because they are far less likely to do the socially “acceptable” thing and allow men to compete against women?
There are transgender athletes in Alaska, a runner down in Kenai comes to mind. Craig’s views are not in the minority, just the opposite. Where in the Constitution are rights guaranteed to boys who think they are girls?
Mayor, since you asked, every right guaranteed to you in the constitution is also guaranteed equally to a boy who contends he is a girl.
Transgender does not exist it is all made up. As long as we as a society continue to placate the extreme edges of our culture we as a society will be left with mess.
In fact Frank a boy in S.E. Alaska not sure if was Hanies or Skagway, competed in a State wide Cross Country Girls event a couple years ago.
Also Frank I guess it is who you run with, me I do not know anyone who thinks males should compete against women.
But this conversation stops when money is involved. After all who things Lebron James should be allow to compete in the Womens Basketball League? Answer, Nobody.
Why is the left so happy to destroy the dreams of women/girls to placate a massive minority of a minority of confused men?
If there is truly such a societal need for “equity” in this situation, create a trans league.
The war on women is waged by the left. Not conservatives.
Would any of this matter if no money or publicity were involved?M
If any of these nuts follow my wife my daughter or grand daughter into a woman’s restroom they won’t walk back out. This is all intolerable. Enough already.
Doug, keyboard tough guy eh? You say you’re willing to spend 10-yrs in prison just to prove you can beat up a sissy dressed as a female? Did your need to bully weaker people begin when it happened to you on a grade school playground?
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A deluded man is constitutionally entitled to act like he is a woman. However, a fair reading of the constitution does not entitle him to use a woman’s restroom. However, politicians are enabling this abrogation of women’s rights (they think appearing woke will win them leftist votes). The politicians are the real problem–the men posing as women are merely the symptom. If, as you say, you intend to exert violence, you should direct it to the problem–not the symptom.
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When a dog bites a fool, the fool blames the dog rather than the dog’s owner.
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