Transgender law allows CA male to make girls' softball team

[Pitching Dad]

Gosh, I guess I live in a totally different world than most on this site. The folks in our country are losing their minds. In my part of the county this would not even be an issue, In nature when describing the differences between male and female it is as clear as a stem on a apple. There either is one or there ain't, cut and dry.

 

[JJsqueeze]

I don't think you can say "most on this site", "most on this site" have not commented and probably won't. The site has a widely varied opinion on everything and it is one of the reasons I like it so much.

I would like everything to be neatly organized into "cut and dry" (by the way....not the best way to go through the gender transformation process from what I have read) little bins and have a "binary world" as referred to earlier, but it just isn't that way. The world is definitely analog not digital, and far too complex for me to figure out, so when I am faced with something that is outside my comfort zone, I ask a simple question- "does this hurt me or my family in any way?" if the answer is yes then I am strongly opposed to it, if the answer is "no" then it is probably my own narrow mindedness causing my discomfort and I tell myself to grow up and stop being a hypocrite who claims to want to live his own life but is not accepting of others doing something different.

 

[guero_gordo]

DNA is a lot more complex than X and Y, ICAC....

BBC NEWS | Health | Transsexual gene link identified

 

[Doug Romrell]

I may not believe as you do. You may not believe as I do. I shouldn't be forced to believe as you do, and you should be forced to believe as I do. By my not wanting to be coerced into supporting those things I don’t value, I am not at all preventing these things from coming about! Let those folks who value those things that I don’t freely and actively support them themselves. My not wanting to participate in support does not prevent the proponents from seeing that they come about.

 

[29dad]

Here's an interesting article regarding how the IOCC is handling this issue.

Olympics' transgender quandary / Debate rages on the fairness of new inclusion rule - SFGate

 

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

IMO, AB1266 is a bad law, because it's too far-reaching. I hate to use such a vague, catch-all term, but specifically, I am not in support of eliminating sex-specific sports, which could happen in response to and as an eventual outcome of a law like this. It does not have widespread public support, even among ardent supporters of the LGBTQ community. The repeal effort got the requisite number of signatures to bring the question to public referendum in November, but it'll be another week before the total is verified. I did not sign the petition to repeal, because the signature drive in our town was organized by an anti-gay group. But I may still vote to repeal if it makes it to the ballot.

When traveling in many parts of Europe, I've seen unisex lavatories. To be honest, I don't understand how people spend time thinking about who's in the room when they're relieving themselves. I can only speak for myself, but when I go, I just go. And when there's a 20-person queue for the women's restroom at the fields and no waiting for the men's, rather than wait 10+ minutes, my daughter goes to the stall with no waiting. If she's been traumatized by that, there's no evidence of it.

In closing, I don't see a problem with public restrooms being used by anyone, regardless of gender identity, however I am empathetic to the position that opening sex-designated locker rooms and sports teams to everyone should be more carefully considered before implementation. If a larger-than-average girl tackles and injures a smaller girl in a contact sport, that's not substantively different from a large boy tackling and injuring her. I think we've got to have a longer conversation about the potential for genetic males to decide that the best way to get college paid for is to deliberately self-identify as girls for a few years in order to compete for sports scholarships.

I didn't realize they got enough signatures. Interesting. I'm as tolerant and supportive of individual rights as anyone, but this one bothers me a lot. My DD's are always going to be smaller than their peers simply because the height gene didn't bless either of them (or their parents. But asking them to compete with genetic males seems to fly in the face of everything Title IX was supposed to be about IMO. But that's another story.
But the bathroom/locker room issue does bother me. I don't care for "gender neutral" bathrooms and feel really self conscious and out of place in them. I know that my wife and DD's would feel the same way as well; if one of them has to use the men's bathroom its one thing, but letting a male into a female restroom is just wrong in their views.

 

[justanotherguy]

Well, this topic is definitely something that hits a little close to home, but for the opposite reason. My daughter is a baseball player. She occasionally plays softball, but it's just for fun. It's pre-puberty at this point, but we still hear just as many complaints about it. What if she wants to keep playing baseball? Now, on the flip side, she's the one with a major disadvantage. If she wants to keep up with the boys she's going to have to work insanely harder than they do. However, I'll be highly pissed if I know she hasn't made a team... middle school... high school, whatever, because of her gender alone.

I'm a conservative, but for me this is not an issue of a boy on a "girls'" team. It's only about the highly unfair advantage he has. When my daughter plays with the boys, she's the one at a disadvantage. My thoughts? Put a wood bat in his hand. A .50 BPF compared to a 1.20 should greatly help.

As far as whether or not this belongs here, of course it does. The "moral and political" discussions don't, but a boy playing on your daughter's team, yes it belongs here.

 

[Vertigo]

Could folks think for a minute? HIPPA is involved so going beyond whether the doctor thinks a kid is healthy enough to play gets you on thin ice.

Not quite sure what part HIPAA plays in this case?

 

[Doug Romrell]

Some who look for opportunities to point fingers and pass judgement will not like the following.

If I start a team, I should be able to cut whomever I choose to cut and for whatever reason I want. Over time I'll either have plenty of players who come out to tryouts or I won't. It's market forces rewarding me or punishing me or both for the things I look for in players.

 

[Ken Krause]

One thing I've noticed is there is an assumption that this boy, by virtual of being male, will automatically be bigger and stronger than all the girls he plays against. We don't know that. There are plenty of small males out there. The fact that he played baseball as a freshman indicates nothing. A lot of freshman teams have smaller boys on them.

Look at wrestling, which someone brought up before. There are girls who defeat boys in wrestling, boys who identify as boys. It usually happens in the lighter weight classes, where the strength isn't as much of an issue. It's more of a level playing field.

Just like girls, boys come in all shapes and sizes. If he is identifying as female, he may not have typical male characteristics.