Moments of infamy

Growing up, I read in history books about Southern governors like Arkansas’ Orval Faubus and Alabama’s George Wallace, who defied federal judges’ orders to integrate public schools and universities.

Faubus was the governor who in 1957 went so far as to summon the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Little Rock’s Central High School, in which they had lawfully enrolled just three years after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. Wallace, meanwhile, famously crowed in his 1963 gubernatorial inauguration address, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” He backed up his racist vow later that year when, flanked by state troopers, he attempted to block the doorway of the University of Alabama’s admissions office to prevent black students from enrolling. Both governors, perhaps fearing they’d picked unwinnable fights, ultimately—and smartly—caved to pressure from the federal government.

Never did I think that in my lifetime, I’d see a moment reminiscent of those governors’ morally deficient and defiant stances.

Then the issue of so-called “transgender” athletes came along. And now that President Trump, as promised, has issued an executive order denying federal education funds to states that persist in letting boys compete in girls’ sports, high school athletics governing bodies in multiple states, like Faubus and Wallace, are having their moments of infamy.

When Trump affixed his signature to his executive order, it seemed like a watershed moment on what should be a common-sense issue: Boys should not be allowed to compete in girls’ sports because they’re not girls. Some boys might say they are and perhaps even believe it despite evidence to the contrary, and they and their allies demand that society treat them as girls. But that doesn’t change their biological realities. Biological males generally boast greater muscle mass, run faster, jump higher, throw farther, and hit harder than girls do. Such biological advantages are why separate, sex-based categories for girls and boys exist to begin with.

Federal judges once recognized that girls would be relegated to being benchwarmers, cheerleaders, and spectators in their own sports were boys allowed to displace them on teams created specifically for them. Those judges thus prohibited boys from playing girls’ sports like volleyball and field hockey when their schools didn’t offer all-male teams in those sports.

However, once certain blue states, high-profile athletic organizations, and even the Biden administration started letting male athletes compete against girls and women—whether they self-identified as transgender or otherwise (I’m looking at you, Massachusetts)—in the name of “compassion” and “inclusion,” observers saw where that inane line of thinking led. On tracks and in pools, male athletes started becoming champions in girls’ and women’s races. Last year, in fact, two boys in Maine earned podium finishes at state championship events in girls’ sports: Greely High’s Katie (formerly John) Spencer of won a state girls’ pole vault title in indoor track and field and Maine Coast Waldorf’s Soren Stark-Chessa placed third in Nordic skiing.

As the year has worn on, in California, A.B. Hernandez of Jurupa Valley High captured state championships in the triple and high jumps and placed second in the long jump. In Washington, Veronica Garcia (nee Donovan Brown)—repeated as the 400-meter champion in one of the state’s small-school classifications. And in Minnesota, Marissa (born Charlie Dean) Rothenberger dominated in the pitcher’s circle in leading Champlin Park High to a state softball title.

On field hockey pitches and volleyball courts, male athletes have sent balls rocketing off their female opponents’ faces, causing devastating injuries—some permanent and life-altering—and scarring those young women psychologically. It got to a point where college and high school volleyball players had no choice but to forfeit matches—not only for their own safety, but to send a message that enough was enough.

Something had to be done, and President Trump did it. But his executive order may not be the final word on the matter. Thankfully, the Supreme Court is set to rule in the next few months on the constitutionality and legality of Idaho and West Virginia laws that aim to protect girls’ and women’s sports. Given its largely conservative makeup, I believe the high court will put an end to the inanity by the end of June.

When it came to same-sex marriage, LGBTQ activists often spoke of opponents being “on the wrong side of history.” However, when it comes to male athletes in female sports, it is certain blue-state governors and the officials who run state athletic associations in those states who are on the wrong side. America’s history books will one day reflect the lunacy of letting boys dominate—if not terrorize—girls on fields and courts or relegate girls to also-rans in sports like track and swimming.

It's simple, really. Powerful people have “exchanged the truth of God for the lie” (Romans 1:25). President Trump has wisely tried to exchange it back. God has been known to look kindly on such repentant acts (2 Chronicles 7:14), which is why I hope states start trending in favor of doing likewise.

Otherwise, historians will look as unkindly on them as they do Orval Faubus and George Wallace.