Spartan
November 5th, 2010, 7:00 PM
See: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=5758450
A female-to-male transgender member of the George Washington women's basketball team wants to be identified as a man this season.
Junior Kye Allums-- who used to be known as Kay-Kay-- is referred to on the school's web site as a "male member of George Washington's women's basketball team."
Allums, who is presumably equipped with female chromosomes, gains no athletic advantage from the gender reassignment. Kay-Kay was an outstanding female basketball player: good enough to secure a place on a highly competitive college team. Kye now becomes a fairly mediocre male player, not nearly good enough for the men's team, but still qualified to play with the girls because... because...
OK, help me out here. If you accept gender reassignment with a straight face, and believe that Kay-Kay has a right to become Kye, you're still groping for an explanation of why a male should be allowed to perform in contests that are restricted to females. Is it because Kye isn't really a man? Don't try that argument with the gender activists on campus. Is it because men are now allowed on women's teams? But they're not. Why is it, then? Simply because Kye subjectively thinks of herself as a man? How do you write that policy down in the league's rulebook?
With Kay-Kay/Kye, again, the gender switch does not produce an unfair competitive advantage. But in another case it might. Suppose a male basketball player, unable to make the grade in a highly competitive league, decided to try out for the women's team. Would he be required to produce some proof of his new status as a woman? What sort of proof would be satisfactory?
Intercollegiate athletic competition is serious business. A talented basketball player might go through a 4-year college with all his expenses covered by an athletic scholarship, while his classmates face tuition and fees mounting up $200,000 for the same educational experience. A male player with a bit less talent-- and a lot less self-respect-- might now think about changing his gender identification and seeking a scholarship to play on the girls' team.
Would it be worth it? I suppose it depends how much you value higher education, and... other things.
A female-to-male transgender member of the George Washington women's basketball team wants to be identified as a man this season.
Junior Kye Allums-- who used to be known as Kay-Kay-- is referred to on the school's web site as a "male member of George Washington's women's basketball team."
Allums, who is presumably equipped with female chromosomes, gains no athletic advantage from the gender reassignment. Kay-Kay was an outstanding female basketball player: good enough to secure a place on a highly competitive college team. Kye now becomes a fairly mediocre male player, not nearly good enough for the men's team, but still qualified to play with the girls because... because...
OK, help me out here. If you accept gender reassignment with a straight face, and believe that Kay-Kay has a right to become Kye, you're still groping for an explanation of why a male should be allowed to perform in contests that are restricted to females. Is it because Kye isn't really a man? Don't try that argument with the gender activists on campus. Is it because men are now allowed on women's teams? But they're not. Why is it, then? Simply because Kye subjectively thinks of herself as a man? How do you write that policy down in the league's rulebook?
With Kay-Kay/Kye, again, the gender switch does not produce an unfair competitive advantage. But in another case it might. Suppose a male basketball player, unable to make the grade in a highly competitive league, decided to try out for the women's team. Would he be required to produce some proof of his new status as a woman? What sort of proof would be satisfactory?
Intercollegiate athletic competition is serious business. A talented basketball player might go through a 4-year college with all his expenses covered by an athletic scholarship, while his classmates face tuition and fees mounting up $200,000 for the same educational experience. A male player with a bit less talent-- and a lot less self-respect-- might now think about changing his gender identification and seeking a scholarship to play on the girls' team.
Would it be worth it? I suppose it depends how much you value higher education, and... other things.