Shoving Girls Off the Podium: More Male Athletes Participating in Girls Sports

by Jeff Johnston | February 20, 2024 | Culture

Stories about males who identify as females are becoming so commonplace that mainstream media often ignores them. But across the nation – and around the globe – more males are pushing girls and women off sports teams and off winners’ podiums.

In addition, these boys and men enter sex-segregated spaces, like showers, locker rooms and restrooms, violating women’s privacy and threatening their safety.

Here’s a roundup of five such stories, followed by some ways you can help to stop this growing trend.

In Massachusetts, a male, high school field hockey player, identifying as a girl, hit a ball so hard it knocked out a female player’s teeth. Outkick reports:

The ICONS X account, representing an organization dedicated to protecting women’s sports, posted the video and tagged NCAA President and former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, asking him to “listen to the screams.”

In Toronto, Canada, a 50-year-old male has been competing in swimming events against young teen girls since 2019, the Toronto Sun reports. Parents of young girls “put up makeshift towel-tenting apparatus so no one could see their daughters and they could not see the person with male anatomy changing with them.”

Melody Wiseheart, Ph.D., born Nicholas J. Cepeda, is a professor at the York University Department of Psychology, heading up the school’s “Cognitive Flexibility Lab.” In addition to apparently identifying as a young girl, Wiseheart also identifies as lesbian.

In New Jersey, transgender-identified swimmer Megan Cortez-Fields competed for three years on the Ramapo College men’s swim team, before switching to the women’s team, states the Daily Mail. Now he’s setting school records in the 200 Individual Medley. Women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines posted about the win:

In Florida, Scottish-born golfer Hailey Davidson, born James Scott Davidson, won the NXXT Women’s Classic after forcing a playoff. So far, Davidson has had seven top-10 finishes over the season.

Ironically, NXXT Golf uses the tag line “Elevating Women’s Golf.” The organization’s website explains:

NXXT Women’s Pro Tour champions the talents of women golfers, to inspire a new generation of athletes through increased exposure and equitable opportunities.

In California, a male player from San Francisco Waldorf School plays three girls sports: volleyball, basketball and soccer. As a sophomore last year, he led the girls volleyball team to a California Interscholastic Federation North Coast Section championship, says the Independent Council on Women’s Sports. This year, he leads the girls basketball team with almost 18 points per game.

The Waldorf School is a private religious school charging $56,000 a year for grades 9-12. Waldorf Schools are based on the teachings of Rudolph Steiner, an occultist who founded the “General Anthroposophical Society,” and Waldorf Education, which is rooted in Steiner’s mystical, gnostic ideology.

That’s just a short sampling of males taking positions on girls and women’s teams. In addition to these, boys and men have taken slots on teams and victories in girls and women’s skateboarding, mountain racing, cycling, wrestling, track and field, volleyball, bowling, tennis, rowing, powerlifting, weightlifting, BMX freestyle riding, cross country, rugby – and more.

Outsports, an LGBT sports news website, lists 39 transgender-identified athletes who’ve competed in college sports. Some are born female, and play on women’s or men’s teams, but the majority are men who identify as women.

This issue is a growing international concern, as well. Three men who identify as women took positions from women at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. And now, swimmer Lia Thomas, born male and formerly known as Will, is working to overturn World Aquatics’ policy prohibiting men who “transitioned” after age 12 from competing in women’s swimming. If Thomas is successful, we could see more men competing as women at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

So what can we do to protect girls and women’s sports? Here are just a few ideas:

  1. Get informed. Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen offers an email news roundup, Mondays through Fridays, and a Friday roundup of our top articles. Sign up for either, or both, here.
  2. Connect with Family Policy Alliance and your state-based family policy council to learn about “Save Girls Sports” initiatives – and other issues in your state. Join the rising number of parents saying, “No!” to males who rob girls and women of opportunities and prizes.
  3. Support these initiatives financially, with prayer and with letters to legislators.
  4. Let your voice be heard on social media – with grace and truth. “Clicks” count – so like, forward, comment and repost articles and other social media posts about this issue and others of concern for Christians.
  5. Consider establishing a “Public Policy Team” or “Culture Impact Team” at your church. These groups hold educational forums, equip believers and even produce church voter guides. We’ve linked to a couple groups in Colorado Springs so you can see what other churches are doing to engage in culture and policy issues.
  6. Pray for those with sexual identity confusion. Paul writes, in I Corinthians 4, that “the god of this world has blinded the eyes of unbelievers.” Pray that God would open blind eyes about this issue and, more importantly, about the truth of the gospel.

It’s important for believers to unite and support issues affecting the family, religious freedom, safety and privacy, life, free speech, and God’s design for male and female. If all believers in America stand for God’s mercy and truth, think of the impact we could have.

Related articles and resources:

For families and individuals struggling with transgender issues, Focus on the Family offers a free, one-time counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor. To request a counseling consultation, call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) or fill out our Counseling Consultation Request Form.

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Contact Your State Policy Group

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It’s Official: First Transgender-Identified Athlete to Compete at Olympics

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