ACLU Tweets the ‘Myths and Facts’ About ‘Trans People in School Sports’
February 3, 2021 was the 35th annual celebration of National Girls & Women in Sports Day (NGWSD). Naturally, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took the occasion to explain to the rest of us that “trans girls are girls” and should be allowed to play girls sports.
In a Twitter thread about how they’ve “debunked” the “4 Myths about Trans People in School Sports,” the ACLU tried to explain why it wants boys who say they are girls in girls sports, restrooms and locker rooms. The Twitter world vociferously disagreed.
The first tweet reads:
Attacks on trans youth in sports are showing up in dozens of state legislatures nationwide.
These bans are discriminatory, harmful, and unscientific. Here’s why ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/N2oedbpW5u
— ACLU (@ACLU) February 3, 2021
Notice the way the ACLU frames the debate? They don’t say, “Transgender activists are attacking girls and women’s sports, unfairly taking opportunities and medals from girls and women. State legislatures are trying to protect them.”
Instead, they call legislative efforts “discriminatory, harmful and unscientific.” Disagree with the ACLU, and you are a transphobic bigot.
Here’s the next tweet, where the ACLU starts teaching us the “FACTS” about transgenderism and male-female differences:
You’d almost think the information was from LGBT activists. Well, it is.
Chase Strangio, who was born female but lives as a man, is the deputy director for transgender justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project. Gabriel Arkles is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project. Arkles, too, was born biologically female, but lives as a man. The two wrote an article for the ACLU in April, 2020, “Four Myths About Trans Athletes, Debunked,” in which they lay out these exact arguments.
The two quote Dr. Joshua D. Safer, the Executive Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery. He said, “A person’s sex is made up of multiple biological characteristics and they may not all align as typically male or female in a given person.” This is true.
But the doctor did not explain that those rare, anomalous instances are usually called “disorders of sex development” or “intersex conditions.” They are genetic and biological conditions and are completely unrelated to transgenderism – which is based on a person’s beliefs, desires, thoughts, imagination and feelings.
The third tweet in the series says:
“Cis athletes” and “cis girls” refers to being “cisgender,” a term invented by transgender activists to contrast with being “transgender.” The ACLU is referring, of course, to the scientific reality that “cisgender” women are physiologically female, unlike biological males who say they are women.
The ACLU’s posts have a huge number of “quote tweets” compared to likes and retweets, known as “getting ratioed” in the Twitter world. Members are responding in large numbers – mostly with scientific facts; mockery; images and videos of men who believe they are women dominating women’s sports; more mockery; and some coarse language. After all, it is Twitter.
One individual pointed out that the posts say FACT, in capital letters – so they’ve gotta be true, right? Others ask why Twitter isn’t fact-checking these patently false statements.
The fourth tweet, explaining the ACLU’s facts of life to the world, says:
In their article, Strangio and Arkle tell us that this “myth” is a “divide and conquer tactic” that “gets it all wrong.” They say, “Excluding women who are trans hurts all women. It invites gender policing that could subject any woman to invasive tests or accusations of being ‘too masculine’ or ‘too good’ at their sport to be a ‘real’ woman.”
Saying real women will be harmed is a “myth” that “reinforces stereotypes that women are weak and in need of protection.” The pair explain the motives behind wanting privacy, safety and sex-segregated sports for women: “Politicians have used the ‘protection’ trope time and time again, including in 2016 when they tried banning trans people from public restrooms by creating the debunked ‘bathroom predator’ myth. The real motive is never about protection – it’s about excluding trans people from yet another public space.”
Twitter members were quick to remind the ACLU of the real harms to women who have already lost opportunities to boys and men in various sports. Several pointed to the bodily damage suffered by female mixed martial arts fighter Tamika Brents, who was sent to the hospital with a concussion and a broken eye socket after being pounded by Fallon Fox – a man who “identifies” as a woman.
The ACLU’s final “FACT”:
We will agree with the ACLU on one small point: It doesn’t feel good to be excluded and left out of the group. But sports is a competition – deciding who is faster, stronger, higher – the hendiatris describing the Olympic ideal (yeah, I had to look that up, too, when it popped up in a Google search). Athletes compete against themselves, but also against others. There are male bodies and female bodies, with different limits on how fast, high and strong they can be. Despite what Strangio, Arkles and the ACLU want us to believe.
The real answer isn’t requiring the rest of the world to join in and support transgender ideology. It’s for those struggling with gender confusion to work toward healing and believing the truth. Many transgender strugglers have been hurt and suffer deep pain. People who hate their bodily reality and have false beliefs need our compassion and support as they move toward wholeness.
What they don’t need is for the rest of the world to cave into this false ideology, wrecking girls sports in the process.
Related articles and resources:
ACLU Lawsuit Challenges Idaho Law Protecting Girl’s and Women’s Sports
Female Athletes Ask NCAA for Fairness in Women’s Sports
New Tool Helps Parents Fight Education System’s Indoctrination of their Children
#SaveGirlsSports – New Campaign Launched by Family Policy Alliance
Seven States Introduce Bills to ‘Save Girls Sports’ – Here’s How You Can Help
Photos from Twitter
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Johnston is a culture and policy analyst for Focus on the Family and a staff writer for the Daily Citizen. He researches, writes and teaches about topics of concern to families such as parental rights, religious freedom, LGBT issues, education and free speech. Johnston has been interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning, The New York Times, Associated Press News, The Christian Post, Rolling Stone and Vice, and is a frequent guest on radio and television outlets. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from San Diego State University with a Bachelors in English and a Teaching Credential. He and his wife have been married 30 years and have three grown sons.
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