Why They Are On The Wrong Side Of History

If there’s one thing the American people have made overwhelmingly clear, it’s this: boys should not compete in girls’ sports. The public knows it. Science proves it. And the Constitution—guided by the Supreme Court—leans that way too.

But don’t tell that to the governors or education bureaucrats of Illinois or Maine. They’re too busy virtue signaling from the cliffs of reality, hoping that federal courts will bail them out when the lawsuits come.

In Illinois, state athletic officials have quietly opened the door for male students—boys who identify as girls—to compete directly against biological females in school sports. In Maine, officials are doubling down. Their Attorney General claims there are "no issues of safety" with males competing in female sports leagues, and their governor seems content to look the other way.

But let’s be clear: these states are playing a game of legal and cultural roulette—and their odds are terrible.

The Supreme Court Has Already Tipped Its Hand

Illinois and Maine are pretending this fight hasn’t already been previewed at the highest levels of jurisprudence. But it has. And the decisions haven't been kind to their cause.

Take Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), the case many on the Left cite as a green light for erasing sex distinctions. But that case was about employment discrimination—not sports, safety, or fairness. In fact, Justice Gorsuch’s majority opinion explicitly left room for biological distinctions to be maintained in other contexts. Since then, federal judges in multiple states have upheld laws barring males from participating in girls' sports, citing the fundamental differences between male and female biology.

More importantly, the current Supreme Court has shown a consistent inclination toward upholding biological realities over ideological fantasies. From protecting religious liberty to defending women's spaces, the Court has made clear: biology still matters in law.

So while Illinois and Maine are betting on a future Court ruling that erases distinctions between the sexes, they’re standing on shaky, soon-to-crumble ground.

Science Isn’t on Their Side Either

No amount of ideological conditioning can override the obvious biological facts: males have significant physical advantages over females. These include higher muscle mass, bone density, lung capacity, and oxygen uptake. Even after hormone treatments or so-called “transitions,” males retain most of these advantages.

When males are allowed to compete against girls, the results are predictable: they win, and the girls lose.

Remember when two male sprinters in Connecticut took 15 women’s state titles between them? Or when Lia Thomas—a biological male—began smashing NCAA women’s swimming records that women had trained years to reach? These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re snapshots of what happens when common sense is cast aside.

Illinois and Maine are acting like these outcomes are just “progress.” In truth, it’s nothing more than state-sponsored cheating—robbing girls of fair competition, scholarships, recognition, and the opportunities they rightfully earned.

The Public Has Already Decided—Loudly

While Illinois and Maine try to spin their gender policies as enlightened or inclusive, the American public isn’t buying it.

Polling from Pew Research shows that nearly 70% of Americans believe that boys should not be allowed to compete in girls’ sports. Other polls, including one from the New York Times and Ipsos, show numbers closer to 80%. In some demographics, especially among parents of student athletes, the split is nearly 99 to 1 in favor of keeping male athletes out of girls’ competitions.

In other words, the issue is settled in the court of public opinion. The only people not listening are the political elites in blue states more concerned with appeasing activists than defending truth or fairness.

Female Athletes Are Being Silenced

Perhaps the most shameful part of this policy push is how young women are being told to sit down, shut up, and take the loss.

Female athletes who speak up are being labeled "bigots" or "transphobes"—even when they’re simply asking for the same fairness and privacy Title IX promised their mothers and grandmothers.

Girls in Illinois were recently forced to share changing rooms with a male student, reportedly under threat of school punishment. Their parents weren’t even given an option. So much for “choice.” So much for “protection.” So much for “girls first.”

In Maine, officials claim there is “no evidence” that allowing males into girls’ leagues creates any problems. That’s because they’re not asking the girls. Or worse—they don’t care what the girls think.

History Will Remember This Backward

Governors like J.B. Pritzker in Illinois and Janet Mills in Maine may think they are doing something brave. But history will remember them differently.

They’re not defending the underdog. They’re enabling the overdog. They’re not protecting the vulnerable. They’re surrendering to the loudest activists.

And when the lawsuits pile up, when the medals are stripped away, and when generations of girls are forced out of sports altogether because they can’t compete with boys in wigs, we’ll look back at this era the same way we look back at other grotesque injustices in history: with horror, and a vow never to repeat it.

Title IX was passed to ensure that girls and women had a fair shot in athletics and education. It was a landmark achievement in the fight for equality. Illinois and Maine are now doing everything they can to undo it.

They are not progressive. They are not enlightened. They are not brave.

They are on the wrong side of science, the wrong side of the law, the wrong side of public opinion, and the wrong side of history.