Wonder of wonders, the normally staunch and reliable USA Today defenders of all things LGBT actually allowed an opinion piece by someone opposed to transgender athletes taking over women's sports. Anita Y. Milanovich, a constitutional attorney from Butte, Montana, says transgender athletes deserve compassion, but they don't have a right to transform women's sports.
USA Today has routinely championed LGBT icons like Olympic skater Adam Rippon, transgender wrestler Mack Beggs and others. In a startling departure from form, the newspaper permitted Milanovich an opportunity to argue that redefining law for the benefit of trans people is not fair.
"Since the advent of Title IX in 1972 — a federal law that expanded athletic and educational opportunities for women — millions of girls and women have benefited from their own teams and chances for growth," Milanovich writes. "But these opportunities risk being redefined and obliterated, because of a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court."
Milanovich says that case is R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to be argued this month. The funeral home fired its director, Aimee Stephens, after she came out as transgender, leading to a lawsuit.
The Supreme Court’s ruling is expected to have "profound implications" on other aspects of federal law. "It matters for the millions of girls and women affected by analogous laws such as those that ensure equal opportunities for education and athletic opportunities 'on the basis of sex,'" Milanovich says. She joined with Independent Women’s Forum and 1,013 individual athletes and parents from around the country to submit a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Harris Funeral Homes.
If courts write new law from the bench on this topic, they will "reinvent the meaning of 'sex,'" says Milanovich. "Doing so would fundamentally redefine what it means to be a 'girl' or a 'woman' by judicial fiat and inject confusion, if not chaos, onto the track and the field, into the pool and the locker room."
The attorney points to two boys in Connecticut, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, who are dominating girls' state high school sprinting championships. Alliance Defending Freedom launched a federal complaint on behalf of three girls claiming discrimination for losing out on opportunities due to the unfairness involved.
Milanovich cites a biological male competing as a "female" who broke multiple world records in the women's Powerlifting Federation competition in April.
And she cites transgender mixed martial arts fighter Fallon Fox, who won a technical knockout against Tamikka Brents, inflicting a concussion and broken skull in that lop-sided match. These two are shown above in the alarming photo.
In Milanovich's state, University of Montana trans cross-country runner June Eastwood is one of the top competitors in the region.
"Biological males are even beating out biological females for qualification to compete in female-only Olympic competitions," Milanovich complains. It shouldn't surprise anyone because males have 36 percent more muscle mass, thicker bones and greater lung capacity.
Beth Stelzer, a female amateur powerlifter and founder of Save Women’s Sports, is quoted: “If biological men are allowed to compete in women’s sports, there will be men’s sports, there will be co-ed sports, but there will no longer be women’s sports.”
Milanovich says her heart aches for males struggling with gender identity. They need love, support, compassion and friendship — "and absolutely deserve protection from bullying and violence.
"Even so, a just, equitable and compassionate solution simply cannot require the redefinition of what it means to be a girl or a woman. Loving each other does not necessitate a spot on the women’s team, or a woman’s trophy."
