Opponents say [Washington state] voters were persuaded at least partly because the initiative and its boosters exploited deep-seated prejudices and misunderstandings about transgender people to erode their rights.
I want to make clear that I support trans people participating in any recreational activity, I support their rights as much as anyone, and that this initiative throws a burden on all female children for the sake of a punishing a few, the competitiveness argument is totally based on assumptions and prejudice not backed by fact-based evidence, the issue is pushed by conservative culture war propagandists, and all that.
That all said, I don’t think most WA voters who voted for I-638 did so because they hate trans people, or think they shouldn’t exist as people. Hateful and spiteful people do exist but they are a minority. Rather, on this specific wedge issue, again based on flawed prejudice pushed by conservatives, opinions seem more to be framed around something similar to why 40 year olds can’t compete in an Over-50 bracket of a tournament.
I can at least understand the opposition argument on this one (unlike most other anti-trans initiatives). To them, a trans girl in highschool is just a boy who decided to call themself a girl. They don’t understand what would make someone want to do that - they just see the surface level, and that logically resolves to ‘A boy can say they’re trans to compete against girls’. I can see where they’d object to that. And purely from a competitiveness standpoint, one could argue that a trans girl who hasn’t started any hormone therapy or anything of the sort is, in effect, as physically capable as her male classmates.
And, yes - a boy who just wanted to appear to perform better at sports could in theory do that. It’s just that reasonable people tend not to want to pass legislation against an entire class of people because of the potential for a few bad actors. It’s like banning N95 masks because someone could wear one to hide their face during a robbery.
But why focus on boys pretending to be girls and not girls pretending to be boys? Doesn’t that just point to the underlying misogyny and pedophilic instincts of the people wanting to inspect little girl genitals?
In the context of sports? Because the argument is that testosterone makes boys more physically capable and therefore provides an unfair advantage in sports when they’re competing against girls. Since trans boys typically don’t have the same levels of testosterone that biological boys do (particularly in high school, where they likely aren’t getting hormone therapy or haven’t been for long), in their eyes, a trans boy competing in boys’ sports would be at a disadvantage.
As a point of interest, in some states, a girl can choose to try out for the boys’ team if they want to, but I’m not aware of anywhere with gendered teams where a boy can try out for the girls’ team.
You said it better than I did.
I wasn’t eligible to vote for 638, but this nuanced take does a good job of describing around where I am. I’d prefer trans people are validated and can exist in society without fear or issue. Affirming care should be accessible and stigma-less
I also think natural testosterone production is a crazy-good steroid that improves muscular development. I’m not on board at all with the “checking under skirts” requirements of the bill but just feel uneasy with the nominal advantage of male puberty and it’s impact on women’s sports. This may get called ignorant, but until I’m asked for it, my opinion doesn’t matter at all, so I have some time. And I’m only chiming in here to add credence to rentlar’s take.
It’s an effective wedge issue, I’m glad that it mostly didn’t work as such, and it sucks that WA folks are going to be subject to the 638
It’s not all that surprising. It’s something like an 80/20 issue. Rights are rights and I think most people are to that point, but things get a bit more wobbly about this specific issue. At least at this point in time. And that’s probably even before all the bad faith arguments coming from conservatives.
It’s probably why cons worked to put these kinds of things on ballots - a re-play of the Karl Rove tactic from years ago in order to drive more cons to the polls.
I think most people just are very confused about the idea of transgenderism and what it actually means, both to those who are transgender and for everyone else.
And the answer to this? Education.
People who exist on the left are like a big bag of wet cats who don’t know each other in terms of aligned beliefs.
