By TIM BARTO
The fight for common sense and decency has a victory in Alaska. Actions taken by the Board of Education in late August and by the Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA) on Monday brings Alaska alongside the rising tide of states –- 23 and counting –- that have taken steps to protect girls’ sports from incursion by boys who want to act like girls.
This issue will be a focal point of political and social movements across the country, and is one of the first steps in fighting back against radical left wing ideologies that eschew biology and promote the disintegration of gender.
Sen. Shelley Hughes tried to get her legislative colleagues to put an end to the madness, but to no avail. Alaska Family Council worked with her, as well as church leaders and female athletes, to rally awareness of what was happening in Alaska’s schools and the response was phenomenal, and encouraging.
Over 2,200 Alaskans signed AFC’s petition to protect girls’ sports. This is not a movement to prohibit transgender athletes from competing, as is being reported by left-wing groups, mainstream media, and representatives of the Anchorage School District like Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt and Board President Margo Bellamy.
Indeed, those who label themselves as transgender are still allowed to compete in sports, but they have to do so according to their biological sex.
Sports leagues and athletic competitions are organized to make things fair: age, weight, and gender are divisions that make sense and are necessary to ensure fair and reasonable competitions. It doesn’t make sense –- and certainly isn’t fair –- for an-eight-year-old football player to be tackled by an 18-year-old, or an 85-pound wrestler to take to the mat against a 170-pound opponent; and it’s also not fair for a biological male to compete as a female.
Fairness and equal opportunity for female athletes was why Title IX was enacted. It protects and promotes equal opportunities for girls and women in athletic competition, and it has been extremely successful in the 50 years of its existence, and that is what AFC and common sense supporters promote.
What we found during this fight was that this issue crosses party lines. It’s not only Christian conservatives that support protecting girls’ sports for girls, but nonpartisan and political centrists joined us, as did people who consider themselves liberal. The line that separates males from females is one that many people cannot cross.
The idea that gender is fluid, and a person can change genders simply by declaring themselves to be a member of the opposite sex is finally being seen as the fad and absurd cause du jour that it is. The pushback on this issue is growing, and is indicative of other battles to come as common sense citizens tire of the radical agendas being pushed by angry, bitter people who seek to tear down any and all traditions of decency.
As schools demote parental rights while promoting hate-based curricula like critical race theory and allowing graphic sex manuals in their campus libraries, a growing number of typically silent citizens are taking notice and getting angry. People are realizing their complacency has allowed the public schools to be taken over by extreme leftist ideologies, and they are now speaking up at school board meetings and questioning district policies.
The issue of parental rights is the next big fight. Seeing the passionate turnout to save girls’ sports, AFC is teaming up with groups such as Moms for Liberty to get parents to wake up and speak out about what is happening to their children in the public schools.
Information about children is being deliberately withheld from their parents, and we are now hearing from teachers who are being told to keep parents in the dark if their child wants to use an opposite sex name or dress at school in opposite sex clothing.
This has to stop, and with the victory to save girls’ sports, we have seen that we can put a stop to it.
Tim Barto is Vice President of Alaska Family Council.
