Dear Senator
A letter about the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023
Link to bill: S. 613 (companion bill to HR 734, introduced in the Senate):
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/613/text
Dear Senator _________:
I’m a lifelong Democrat, and I am writing about the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, S. 613.
I am asking you to support this bill, subject to appropriate amendments, as described below. I have read the bill and do not see anything about it to which Democrats should object in principle. It is certainly not transphobic, and any issues with its wording can be addressed by amendments codifying reasonable, science-based exceptions, for example, in the case of pre-puberty intramural athletics. With regard to post-puberty athletics, and particularly competitive athletics, however, it has been flabbergasting to see my own Democratic Party take positions that descend into abject science denial. This needs to change now.
Powerful scientific evidence, provided in study after study, has demonstrated that male puberty brings with it insurmountable advantages that cannot be overcome, even with suppression of testosterone. And certainly Democrats, past champions of women’s rights, should not be in the business of destroying any semblance of a level playing field for natal women and girls in order to cater to natal boys and men who simply raise their hands to self-identify as women.
I urge you to lead the way to a return to following the science. Excellent models abound that the Democrats might use, including that proposed by Martina Navratilova, under which there would be two competitive categories, one for natal females only and the other open to anyone. Other excellent proposals include those offered by the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group and Seb Coe and World Athletics.
At present, however, the position Democrats are currently wedded to turns girls’ and women’s athletic ambitions into a joke. We’ve already seen what this looks like when natal males are allowed to compete against, and take medals and so many other opportunities away from, natal female athletes.
Please don’t let the right run away with these issues under the pretense that it has the high ground. Of course, I’d be delighted if the amendments pass and a scientifically sound amended bill passed into law. I suspect strongly, however, that, if the Democrats amend the bill in ways like those I suggest, the right will refuse to adopt them. This alone will allow Democrats to retake the high ground on these issues without continuing to throw natal women and girls under the bus.
Natal women and girls need your support, now more than ever. Please don’t fail us.