The artful dodge is a political move characteristic of weak politicians. Recently asked if he would support the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would amend Title IX, the 1972 Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act, Tim Kaine dodged. Virtually every observer knows that in lockstep with Biden and Schumer, Kaine assuredly opposes the bill. But stating so publicly will enrage an overwhelming majority of Virginians, so Kaine chose to dodge, albeit inartfully. He has used the same kind of dodge repeatedly in instances where he is asked to state his position on a controversial issue.
As he did in 2019 when he misleadingly denied that critical race theory was an issue in Virginia schools, Kaine now describes the admission of biological males into girls' and women’s sports as a “non-issue.” In reality, the matter is of acute importance to parents of female children across Virginia. Parents now struggle as biological males join girls’ swim, track, basketball, tennis, and a host of other sports teams in every urban area of Virginia, dramatically altering the competitive landscape, upsetting the odds of victory for girls, invading the privacy of girl athletes, and depriving girls of prospects for recognition and scholarships.
When asked about his stance on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, Kaine gave his all-too-familiar "hear no evil" line: “Two weeks of traveling around Virginia, nobody asked me about this . . . This is not what is on folks’ minds. This is an issue that’s getting a lot of attention in some media. It’s not what Virginians are worried about.” But Virginians are deeply troubled by this issue, as Kaine most assuredly knows.
As one who has also traveled across Virginia over the last two weeks, I can tell you that the entry of biological males into girls' and women’s sports is a very big issue indeed, as is the new bathroom policy in Loudoun County Public Schools whereby biological males and biological females will soon be forced to use the same restrooms (despite the obvious invasion of privacy and rape and sexual abuse risk to girls, a risk Loudoun County saw come to fruition not once but twice when in 2021 a boy donned a skirt and raped a girl in a girls’ restroom at one school then was moved to another only to repeat the offense).
I don’t know where Kaine has been hanging out the last two weeks, but at the Williamsburg Breakfast Club, I listened last week as women rose to explain that entry of biological males onto girls’ swim teams threatened the sport and the girls’ locker room privacy. They also explained that petitions to Virginia Sens. Kaine and Warner about the need to stop male entry had gone unanswered. In Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, parents are rightfully furious that new uni-bathroom policies are either on the way (in Loudoun this Fall) or coming soon (in Fairfax County). They have written their concerns in publications and have voiced them at forums. Where is Kaine?
Kaine is conveniently AWOL on the issue of biological males entering girls' and women’s sports. In reality, his feigned deafness to the issue ensures he avoids falling out of lockstep with the Biden Administration’s endorsement of this perverse application of Title IX. When in the presence of evil, those with the power to stop it refuse to do so, they are equally complicit with those who openly endorse the evil. Kaine bears responsibility for not standing up in defense of girls and women against this onslaught from the radical left of his party.
Americans rightfully expect their elected representatives to defend girls' and women’s sports. They rightfully expect them to defend girls' and women’s privacy and safety against the new uni-bathroom. The woke movement to obscure and obliterate the very real biological differences that define what it is to be male and female has captured the Democrat Party and the leadership of teachers’ unions and urban school districts. They now dwell in a perverse fantasyland where real threats to meaningful competition among girls and women and their safety and privacy are ignored.
It defies basic biological science to presume boys and men who ordinarily possess greater muscle mass, power, and speed than same-aged girls and women to compete on par with females. And if those who describe themselves as trans females may enter into girls' and women’s sports with impunity, that same destruction of a distinguishing principle based on real differences will invite all males to enter girls' and women’s sports. And therein lies the destruction of the hopes and dreams of girls and women in the area of competitive sport. The victories of the last 40 years in enabling girls and women to advance in sport will be dashed unless measures like the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act become law. Due to the dogmatic opposition of Democrats to passage of that law, the day to ensure defense of girls and women in sports will be delayed until Democrats are defeated in the Senate and the White House in 2024.
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