“It’s fundamentally unfair” – Bossier Press-Tribune

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WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today warned his colleagues that transgender activists threaten the future of women’s sports in the United States. Kennedy called on Congress to protect women’s sports by ensuring that biological women and girls do not have to compete against biological men and boys.

Key excerpts from Kennedy’s speech are below:

“Men and women don’t compete on the field for the same reasons: it’s fundamentally unfair and women could get hurt. Yet today there are activists in our country and – I wish I didn’t have to say this – there is a president in the White House who thinks that the laws of physics and biology do not do not apply to transgender athletes. And these activists and President Biden are happy to destroy sporting opportunities for every American woman in order to prove their point.

. . .

“This is America. You have the right to say whatever you want, and some say a biological man has no physical advantage over a biological woman. But that doesn’t change the laws of nature. That doesn’t change the law of science. It doesn’t change the law of anatomy. The truth is that a woman’s bone doesn’t care if the person who broke it identifies as a woman. , a man or whatever. They just know their bone is broken.

“American female athletes are not lab rats. They are not laboratory rats that we can subject to a social experiment. They also have goals and dreams. And they also worked hard to develop their skills, earn scholarships and win championships.

“No girl, no woman, no woman in America should end up on the bench with their arm in a sling because the Biden administration wanted a biological male to feel included.”

. . .

“How disheartening must it be to dedicate your life to a goal, only to have these activists and President Biden ripped away from you because institutions are unwilling to accept the immutable facts of anatomy?

“I reject the proposal. I do. I reject the notion that it is acceptable that a young athlete from Louisiana who spends hours at the pool or gym every night should have her college championship taken away by a biological boy because the Biden administration says so.

. . .

“I don’t think we should sacrifice women’s physical safety. I don’t think we need or should sacrifice women’s athletic, educational, or professional opportunities just because some activists and President Biden claim that injecting biological males into women’s sports is the only way to make Americans transgender people feel included.

. . .

“Louisiana has already put a stop to this. In 2022, the Louisiana state legislature passed a bill. . . called the Women’s Sports Equity Act. It prohibits biological boys from competing against girls in elementary or secondary school sports. . . . We need a lot more common sense from Louisiana to Washington, DC. »

. . .

“Let me summarize for you: Activists and President Biden want to force young female athletes to change their clothes in front of biological boys in their locker rooms. They (want girls) to accept with a smile the tackle of a biological man on the (football) field. That’s what they want women to do: just grin and bear it. And President Biden and activists want young women to hide their tears when a biological man walks away with a trophy these women spent their entire lives working for, and that’s wrong.

Background:

• Transgender activists across the country have pushed sports institutions to allow biological men and boys to compete against biological women and girls. Activists regularly deny that biological men have any sporting advantage over women. The ACLU, for example, says it is a “fact” that “trans girls are girls” and a “myth” that transgender female athletes have a physical advantage over biological girls.

• In reality, biological males’ physical and athletic advantages begin in the womb. Baby boys experience a surge of testosterone that improves their motor skills and increases their aggression.

• During puberty, boys develop larger hearts and lungs that allow them to absorb more oxygen and pump blood more efficiently than girls. Girls develop a wider pelvis, which can decrease the force their legs can exert. Boys develop broader shoulders to support additional muscle mass in their upper body. The average man is five inches taller and has higher levels of bone density, even when height is controlled.

• These developmental differences give biological males a significant athletic advantage, even greater at the elite level. High school students, for example, regularly record faster sprint times than female Olympians, according to a Duke University study. In many Olympic track or swimming events, the world record holder would not qualify to compete against men. In strength-based sports like weightlifting, men outperform elite women in the same weight class by up to 30%.

• The use of cross-sex hormones by transgender athletes does not eliminate the athletic advantages of biological males. A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that men who have been on cross-sex hormone treatments for two years can still run 12% faster and do 10% more push-ups than women.

• In March, several female college athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA. They allege that the NCAA violated its 14^th Modification of the right to bodily privacy by allowing biological men to share a locker room with them during competitions.

• The Louisiana state legislature passed the Fairness in Girls’ Sports Act in 2022. The law prohibits biological boys from competing against biological girls in most elementary or secondary school sports.

Watch Kennedy’s full speech here.