Nathaniel Finn: When culture shifts twice

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, July 8th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. When future historians look back on the so-called “transgender movement,” WORLD Opinions contributor Nathan Finn says two male athletes will feature prominently in the record.

NATHANIEL FINN: It’s a story of two men…one helped make transgenderism a national phenomenon. The other unwittingly opened society's eyes to what it had missed.

OLYMPIC COVERAGE: The 5th event for the men’s decathlon, 400 meters…

Bruce Jenner has been famous for his entire adult life.

OLYMPIC COVERAGE: But here is Jenner in lane number 5…

He became a household name when he won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Like many elite athletes, Jenner became a celebrity endorser of various products, most notably the breakfast cereal Wheaties.

WHEATIES COMMERCIAL: Because a complete breakfast with Wheaties is good tasting and good for you…

He also appeared in various films and television programs.

MUSIC: [STING FROM KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS]

For over a decade in the 2000s and 2010s, Jenner starred on the reality television show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, where he became a celebrity among a new generation who never knew him as one of the best-known athletes in America.

In the summer of 2015, Jenner identified publicly as a woman.

ABC: I would say I’ve always been confused with my gender identity since I was this big…

He changed his name to Caitlyn Jenner, adopted feminine pronouns, and eventually underwent sex reassignment surgery to create the appearance that he was a woman.

For about a decade, it seemed like Bruce Jenner represented a tipping point. Transgenderism became one of the agendas represented in the increasingly ubiquitous acronym LGBTQ.

While the legislative fortunes of transgenderism ebbed and flowed based upon congressional and presidential elections, transgender activists seemed to be gaining ground in the public imagination.

That brings us to the second athlete, William Thomas. He became a poster child for transgender advances in American society.

SOUND: [WILLIAM THOMAS SPORTS COVERAGE]

Thomas wasn’t an elite athlete like Jenner, but he was good enough to swim for the University of Pennsylvania, a NCAA Division I program.

SOUND: [LIA THOMAS SPORTS COVERAGE]

During his junior year, Thomas began to identify as a woman and adopted the new name Lia Thomas. After undergoing hormone therapy, Thomas was allowed to swim for the women’s team. In 2022, Thomas won a national championship in the women's 500-yard freestyle.

SOUND: [LIA THOMAS SPORTS COVERAGE]

While Jenner seemed like a tipping point, Thomas represented a reality check. Progressive activists celebrated Thomas’s win, but many Americans realized that allowing biological men to compete in women’s athletics is unjust. 

Numerous states passed laws barring men from competing in women’s sports at the high school level. In the spring of 2024, the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) banned men from women’s sports.

In February 2025, Trump issued an executive order...

AUDIO: In a few minutes I’ll sign a historic executive order to ban men from competing in women’s sports. It’s about time…

It states “it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.” The order updated NCAA eligibility requirements to align with biological sex. The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights began investigating the University of Pennsylvania for allowing Thomas to compete as a woman and froze over $175 million in federal funding.

ABC NEWS: This morning, the University of Pennsylvania reversing course…

On July 1st, university president Larry Jameson wrote a letter announcing the investigation was resolved. Jameson acknowledged that female student-athletes were at a competitive disadvantage during the 2021-2022 season, apologized to those women, and updated school athletic records to reflect current NCAA eligibility standards.

We should welcome this turn of events. Conservatives should celebrate every wise use of political power to enforce just policies that promote human flourishing. It’s unjust for males to compete in girls’ and women’s sports. That so many educators don’t see that reflects a malformed view of justice informed more by progressive identity politics than God’s design, or even basic common sense.

I’m Nathan Finn.

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