As you saw on the front page, last Wednesday, August 3, the Ballston Spa School District Board of Education passed a policy change, with a focus on gender identity among students.
Per policy 7552, a transgender student may request and be allowed access to the male/female bathrooms or locker rooms that are in alignment with their gender expression.
This means biological males who say they identify as female can change in the female locker rooms and vice versa. What could possibly go wrong with that situation?
Another important part of this discussion relates to the athletics program. Now, biological males who say they identify as females, will be allowed to compete against females.
As you can imagine, the BOE meeting became tense at times, as upset parents expressed concern over the controversial measure. Some parents can be seen walking out in disgust after the unanimous vote. I must admit that I would have been one of them.
In response to public pushback, BOE President Jason Fernau, sent out a district wide email stating that “Some parents and members of our community have been promoting an out-of-date and harmful narrative that our transgender students are a danger to other students.” I think this is misleading at best. One local parent reached out to me to rebut Fernau’s assertion and clarify his own concerns.
According to Jason Savaria, “At no time did I hear one parent speak to such. On the contrary, some, including myself expressed serious concern for the safety for Trans kids. This new policy neither protected Cis-Gender kids nor Trans kids.”
Another concerned B’Spa parent reached out to me about the decision, as well as the tone of the email from Fernau. “By now I’m sure you’ve seen the email that came from BSCSD BOE President, Jason Fernau. For someone who is trying to pass a policy to provide inclusion and acceptance to call his community of parents “out-of-date,” “dangerous” and “harmful” is beyond terrifying and he should be held accountable.” The local father added “We need to keep showing up to meetings in numbers and putting the pressure on. This is not a time to be silent, inactive, oblivious, idle, or apathetic.’
ATHLETICS
I am going to skip the topic of shared locker rooms and bathrooms because the reasons against it seem so blatantly obvious no discussion is needed. I will only say that nothing good will come out of sexually curious and confused youth sharing locker rooms. Just think back to your teenage years!
OK, let’s dig into why it is a bad idea, and unfair, for biological males to compete against biological females.
According to the website: journals.physiology.org, on average, skeletal muscle mass in men is 36% greater than in women. This doesn’t change because someone identifies as a female. They are still physically stronger due to their genetics.
But the differences don’t stop there. FairPlayForWomen.org listed the following biological differences which impact performance:
Women are shorter, about 9% on average.
Male bones are bigger and stronger, in both size and density.
Men have massive upper body strength advantage, but women do (somewhat) better with lower-body muscles. Females generally have 40% less skeletal muscle than males on the top half; 33% less below the waist.
Women’s ligaments are thinner and softer than men’s.
Women are 90% as fast as men. Across all speed events, women consistently achieve 90% of the men’s speeds.
Men’s muscles are more solid, due to a higher proportion of Type 2 fast-twitch fibers.
These are scientific facts, not feelings.
If we want our young girls and young women to excel in their field of athletic endeavor, we better damn well keep biological males out of their sports. It is unfair, it is unjust, and it is disturbing.
“How in good conscience, can I as a father of a daughter, sit by and watch biological boys compete against my daughter?” - Ralph, Ballston Spa father.
Real Consequences
CeCé Telfer, a biological male, won the women’s NCAA championship in the 400-meter hurdles.
Laurel Hubbard, a biological male, takes gold in women’s power lifting.
Lia Thomas, a biological male, won the women’s NCAA freestyle swimming championship.
JayCee Cooper, a biological male, won the women’s national championship for bench press.
Admiral Rachel Levine, a biological male, was a USA Today Woman of the Year.
Eli Erlick, a biological male, won Glamour magazine’s College Woman of the Year.
Lia Thomas, a biological male, was nominated by U-Penn as the NCAA Woman of the Year.
What took women’s rights groups a century to accomplish is being destroyed over the course of years.
So, yes, this will impact females.
CONCLUSION
As an outside observer, I am not sure why these decisions are being made. I think many people and organizations are simply afraid to go against the grain for fear of public backlash. But consider this for a moment: Maybe the grain isn’t going in the direction the mainstream media portrays. Maybe these parents who took a stand are the grain? Maybe common-sense decisions are the majority, but they are muffled by virtue signaling micro-groups who have a louder platform?
Is it any surprise that charter school and homeschool enrollment has more than doubled in the last decade?
Either way, as our school systems continue to transform from institutions of education to institutions of indoctrination, expect more bizarre and counterintuitive decisions to come down the pike. It is up to us to hold people accountable.
-Chad
