Hey
@TomSteyer, my mother has also loved sports her entire life, except she didn’t get to play sports in high school because her school didn’t have any women’s teams. She’s only a few years older than you & was in college when Title IX passed. She became the captain of the first women’s tennis team at her university.
My mom grew up watching her five brothers be celebrated for their athleticism. Meanwhile, she had no teams available to her. My mom is a naturally gifted athlete, but girls were expected to sit on the sidelines, cheer for boys, and never imagine themselves on the field.
Then, after Title IX passed, everything changed. Her university formed a women’s tennis team. She tried out, made the team, and became team captain. That opportunity, delayed for years, shaped her life. It gave her confidence, leadership, friendships, pride, and a sense of belonging that had been denied to her simply because she was female.
For millennia, women were kept out of public life, out of education, out of professions, out of the law, out of the vote, and yes, out of athletics, all on the basis of SEX, not gender.
And now we are told by you, Tom Steyer, to pretend that sex is irrelevant. That male bodies pumped have no advantage. That girls should just accept losing medals, titles, records, scholarships, and privacy. That after centuries of struggle, suddenly the category “woman” is opt-in for any boy who wants in.
But having inherited those rights from my mother and grandmothers who fought hard for them, I cannot and will not sit back and let you destroy them hard earned rights for future generations of girls.