If USA Today has 99 problems, having too many issues to report that are of crucial interest to readers would clearly not be one of them.
On Tuesday, USA Today Sports ran a piece documenting the odyssey of transgender male athlete Keelin Godsey, an 11-time All American and National Champion in women’s hammerthrow.
Godsey decided she wasn’t really a woman, and wanted to be considered a man. The article mentions how no policy existed in the NCAA regarding transgenders at the time of Godsey’s “self-identification.”
Now, all that has changed.
The NCAA sent rules regarding transgenders to every D1 school in 2011. Godsey herself penned an essay that provides guidance for transgendered athletes at these institutions. So, what’s the problem?
The problem, according to Godsey and other activists, is that many of the schools haven’t posted the rules and guidelines.
USA TODAY Sports asked 75 NCAA Division 1 programs if they had adopted the recommendations, and out of the 50 that responded, 10 had used the recommendations to enact for a formal policy that specifically addresses the inclusion of transgender athletes in intercollegiate athletics. Out of the 40 who had not, 21 said they were still reviewing the recommendations while referring to a general non-discrimination policy that does not specifically address transgender athletes. One school, Alabama Birmingham, said “they were not aware of a current policy on the topic and to their knowledge, have never discussed the topic.”
[GASP!] Never discussed the topic? Why, the troglodytes! That’s a hate crime of omission. The article quoted UMass Professor Pat Griffin, one of the authors of the recommendations. “Most schools are waiting until it’s an issue, which is unfortunate” Griffin said, because it “puts the burden on the individual athletes who identify as trans and want to play, to go to the athletic director and say I want to play … (the athletic director is) trying to react in the moment, instead of being prepared ahead of time.”
There is of course a really good reason why most schools are “waiting until it’s an issue.” Homosexuals make up only 3-4 percent of the overall population. Transgenders wouldn’t even account for half of that already tiny minority. Then the percentage of transgenders sufficiently talented to play a sport at a D1 school would, let’s assume, mirror that percentage in the general population of college students. Therefore, these recommendations were promulgated for the convenience of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population. In other words, an athletic director at a major D1 school would have a better chance of having a moose walk through his front door than he would a transgender.
Also more than a little irksome is this galling sense of entitlement. Schools are waiting, “which is unfortunate.” This is wrong because it “puts the burden” on the athletes who identify as trans.
Question: why shouldn’t the burden be on the trans athletes? Aren’t they the ones who decided to undergo (or not to undergo) a completely unnecessary and entirely elective surgery?
Or better question, why should an athlete’s decision to become a transgender suddenly become everyone else’s problem or burden? People don’t change lawn services without notifying 19 different people and jumping through all types of hoops. Is it so much to ask a kid who changed genders to be able to notify people?
Moreover, if a 19 year old is mature enough to assume and handle the burden of having a very public dispute with biology, why is it suddenly too much of a burden to ask him to be responsible enough to be aware of and communicate his rights?
And finally ... NFL CAMPS ARE OPEN AND THE PRESEASON STARTS THIS WEEKEND. HOW THE HECK IS THIS EVEN A STORY?!
