Kudos to the Idaho conservatives who stood up to LGBT and NCAA bullies and said "no" to transgender males playing on women's sports teams. Earlier this year the state passed a law banning males from muscling in on women's teams, the ACLU filed suit and the NCAA was pressured to withdraw 2021 postseason events from the state. Well, the NCAA just flinched, deciding to re-examine its policy allowing male intrusions on female teams, and a media mouthpiece for the LGBT folks calls it a win for "opponents of trans inclusion."
Writing for SBNation Outsports, Dawn Ennis and Alex Reimer reported: "The National Collegiate Athletic Association Board of Governors have called a timeout regarding the situation in Idaho, where a new law bans transgender student athletes from competing according to their authentic gender."
The NCAA leaders were planning to address Idaho’s new law, House Bill 500, at a meeting Tuesday. On the table was the possibility of yanking March Madness men's basketball games from Boise State University's ExtraMile Arena next spring, as punishment for defying LGBT interests. This decision has been postponed until October so the NCAA can see what becomes of an ACLU lawsuit against the Idaho law and to conduct a review of its policy permitting men to potentially dominate women's sports.
Previously, the NCAA removed postseason basketball tournaments from North Carolina over its bathroom bill. The craven NBA also pulled its all-star game from that state for the same reason. The NCAA issued this statement on the situation in Idaho:
The NCAA is working with national and international groups as it reviews its current transgender athlete policy. Inclusion and fairness are the objectives in addressing the complex set of issues. The NCAA Board of Governors will hear an update regarding the policy review at its October meeting as it considers future championship host sites. The NCAA is monitoring the lawsuit involving Idaho Bill 500 and will review the court’s decision when it is made.
LGBT bullies have grown accustomed to using sports organizations as hammers against resistance. They previously used their sports stooges to threaten Arizona, Texas and Indiana with the loss of Super Bowls, and they expected Idaho to roll over, too. Reimer and Ennis responded to the surprising resistance: "Although the NCAA hasn’t backed away from its stance back in June opposing that law, the association’s decision to take a second look at its own trans-affirming policy can only be seen as a victory for opponents of trans inclusion."
Though supporters of Idaho's law urged the NCAA to stand strong against the bullies and preserve the integrity of women's sports, the NCAA in June condemned Idaho's law as “harmful to transgender student-athletes and conflicts with the NCAA’s core values of inclusivity, respect and the equitable treatment of all individuals.”
"This is a big shift from 2016, when under mounting public pressure, the NCAA moved tournament and championship contests from North Carolina following that state’s own anti-LGBTQ legislation," the Outsports LGBT advocates remarked in their story.
The ACLU is suing Idaho on behalf of plaintiff Lindsay Hecox, a man seeking to participate on the women’s track team at Boise State University.
A who's-who of lesbians -- including Billie Jean-King and Megan Rapinoe -- denounced the "draconian" Idaho law and demanded the NCAA remove the tournament games from the state next year. But more than 300 women signed a letter opposing trans women participating in college women’s athletics. Tennis icon Martina Navratilova (in photo above), a lesbian herself, participated in this opposition letter by the group identifying as Save Women's Sports.
The LGBT advocates at PinkNews discovered some disturbing facts about that group, according to Ennis and Reimer, who asked:
Were Navratilova and the women who signed the letter aware that its author, Save Women’s Sports, counts among its 'allies' anti-LGBTQ conservative and religious groups? These supporters include the Heritage Foundation, the Alliance Defending Freedom, Concerned Women for America and The Family Policy Alliance. These groups publicly oppose not only trans inclusion but same-sex marriage, adoption by gay couples, the decriminalization of homosexuality, and so much more.
This story about the NCAA having cold feet broke shortly after a study revealed that men and women who've undergone sex change surgery are less happy after taking these drastic steps. The NCAA will do well to take the long-term emotional welfare of gender-confused athletes into account as it re-examines its policy on trans athletes.
