Comments

1

Dear Caitlen Jenner, the Republicans will always hate you, I don't even know why you bother. I don't get it.

4

I assume Matt you're putting scare quotes around "isolated incidents" to call attention the easy access to guns. So just say so, being coy and journalism don't pair well.

5

I'm not sure what you think Biden should do about the Equality Act.

The House has passed it twice. Last year, of course, Moscow Mitch prevented it from even seeing the light of day in the Senate. This year, it should at least get a vote, but the likelihood of it getting past a republican filibuster is almost zero. So the Equality Act is probably dead in the water for the foreseeable future, regardless of anything Biden does. We should still work toward it. Take that vote in the senate, and force republicans to own their bigotry. But if it never gets to Biden's desk, there isn't much he can do about it beyond voice his support for it, which he has.

7

@1,

She's carved out a comically unique niche for herself, pretty much widely detested by an overwhelming majority of repubs and dems alike. I'm not sure what the subset of transgender friendly RWNJ's is, but I'd not be surprised if she gets <1% of a vote, assuming she even makes it to a point at which votes are cast. She's sort of Vermin Supreme, but doesn't advocate massive federal funding for time travel research or wear a boot on her head.

8

@4 Matt loves NOT jokes. Every fucking story is "here's the story -NOT," in some interation. He is the worst at doing SLOG. He seems the least aware of the whole Stranger team, and that says a lot. His depth of knowledge on most issues is really shallow for someone who is supposed to be a reporter.

9

@7 She is also overwhelmingly detested by a large majority of transgender people. It's a shame, really, she had a chance to be a contender.

10

KUOW Roundtable basically agreed that since gender is a construct, we should just get rid of girls sports and mainstream everyone onto the boys teams. This would pretty much lock women out of a lot of sports. No more basketball for them, no running sports. Boys would dominate. But gender is a construct so they really wouldnt be dominating anything. It would just be kids playing sports against each other, kids mostly with external genitalia.

11

Can someone honestly explain to me (without getting all pious) why it is so heretical to question the fairness of letting trans athletes compete with biological females. Gender identity aside how is it any different than if a biological female has taken performance enhancing drugs to boost testosterone? These athletes have a biological advantage, there is no denying that and yet I guess there is just no nuance in the discussion? This is where the LGBQT community tends to lose me, it has to be 100% or you are a complete whatever phobe. I'm all for letting the compete since it's not realistic to form their own divisions nor have them compete with boys however perhaps as a compromise they are not allowed to hold any state records nor compete for state titles. Would be interested to hear the argument about why this is such an important issue for the trans community.

12

@10 Oh my gosh we all might have to take sports less seriously and be a lot less emotionally invested in winning and play simply to enjoy the activity itself. What a nightmarish vision. What horror.

13

@11 It isn't to everyone. I don't care a bit. Also, I'll play chess with anyone.

14

I wouldnt care either, but basketball afforded my sister's entire college education. Silly girls sports ya know.

18

@9, agree that Jenner had the opportunity to be potentially wonderful spokesperson for the trans community. When she first came out at trans, she immediately became the most famous trans person in the US. Jenner had been one of the most famous and well liked athletes back in the 1970s. Her story is pretty incredible, and potentially inspiring for other trans people.

And then she got involved with the Kardashians and became a right wing nutter, and burned all her credibility to the ground. A lost opportunity to do some real good in the world.

I will never understand her.

20

@6 agreed (though we've been living in the upside down for 5 years now).

as for the trans athlete debate, my question is how many trans athletes are there? why is this such a huge issue? are there so many trans athletes out there that they are truly going to disrupt opportunities for girls and women? will all athletic opportunities, awards, and scholarships go to trans girls and women now?

i honestly want a factual answer to this question.

right now women athletes have no parity with male athletes. all you have to do is look at the women's soccer team, any women's college sports team, the women's national basketball league, etc. they make far less money and they have far less opportunities (in college and after college, professional and otherwise - such as being sponsored by major corporations).

i am no fan of cait. it's got to be pretty easy to live comfortably male white privilege (and republican white male privilege at that) your entire life and career and then come out as trans in your mid 60s. is she against trans athletes because of the unfair biological advantage she believes exists that will affect girls and women or is she against trans athletes because of how the biological disadvantage she believes exists will affect boys and men?

i truly, given the state of this country and the state of the world with all of the problems that need to be addressed and fixed, do not understand why trans athletes and how they pose a problem to the world of athletes has moved to the forefront as it has.

and yes i understand everyone's priorities are different and everyone's opinions about what is important is different.

trans or not, we're still in the midst of a worldwide pandemic where horrifying numbers of people are dying, this country is in the midst of white supremacy doing everything it can to remain intact as the ideology and policy, enforced by violence and terrorism, and girls and women (all girls and women) are not remotely treated with equality, let alone free from violence experienced at the hands of men, the reality and numbers of which are staggering, especially in the indigenous, black, immigrant, and asian communities.

i for one am most concerned about the slaughter of human beings at the hands of white supremacists and cops, the rape and slaughter of girls and women at the hands of men, and the destruction of everyone and everything (the rape and slaughter of all life and the planet we live on) in the name of corporate profit and greed.

21

Following up on @19, transgender athletes have been eligible to participate in the Olympics since 2004. If concerns regarding fairness to female athletes were legitimate, we should be seeing large numbers of trans women earning medals. That's not happening, which is a clear indication that the concerns are unfounded.

22

@11 I think a lot of the issue is that the actual level of "advantage" that a trans woman would have is uneven and highly dependent on the sport, not to mention may be transitory depending on how recently the person transitioned. There's a pretty decent article on that topic here: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978716732/wave-of-new-bills-say-trans-athletes-have-an-unfair-edge-what-does-the-science-s

Also, cis women have a range of natural testosterone levels, some of which are beyond the "normal" limits used by anti-doping agencies. And finally, in most sports, success comes from working on perfecting one's form. A person going through transition is going to have all kinds of changes in their body that mess with one's form. That's definitely not going to be helpful.

Until someone can point to the hordes of trans women dominating women's sports, banning trans women seems like a solution in search of a problem.

23

The whole solution to Trans kids in sports is staring us in the face though isn’t it? I mean all this hysteria about testosterone would be put to rest if you just let them have the hormone therapy/blockers they need to help them transition. Certainly by the time they are 18 and college athletics come into play nobody could stop them from getting those treatments.
Oh and those pretending that these treatments don’t work just needs to google “buff Trans men”. The upshot of these silly ZOMGTrAnS competing in sports laws is that they open up women’s sports to jacked Trans guys, (who while not in possession of a penis are up to their muscular gills in testosterone) simply because they have the “correct” genitalia.
TLDR: nobody ever remembers Trans guys in these arguments

24

@19 ok, I can get that but when you look at the case in CT where the trans athletes were dominating the competition is that really fair (https://www.gametimect.com/jeff-jacobs-as-records-fall-at-girls-state-open-track-debate-rages-over-transgender-issue/)? It seems today there are more people who identify as trans and that's probably a good thing as they are more comfortable expressing their true identify and not hiding in the shadows but with broader acceptance and a greater identification there is going to be some conflict here. if you say well the greater good of allowing trans athletes to compete outweighs the potential unfairness placed upon the few biological females who are disadvantaged than I guess that is an argument but we should acknowledge the injustice to those athletes and not label them as anti-trans for asking for a level playing field.

I agree the right has seized on them as a political opportunity but the only reason that opportunity is there is because there is a measure of unfairness and heavy handedness about this that provides that opportunity. If you can find a solution that allows for competition without creating injustice on others than the clamor dies down and the political gain of passing restrictive laws goes away.

25

@11: that’s the thing if they are taking their female hormones and the male hormone blockers they DON’T have an advantage. They lose muscle mass, their ligaments get looser, their weight starts distributing differently etc.

26

@24: let Trans kid get the puberty blockers and hormone therapy they need to transition. There ya go!

27

When you look at them from the perspective of the Q-anon addled Trump party Mitt Romney and Bernie Sanders might as well be the same person. Bernie wears mittens, and Mitt's nickname is Mitt.

28

@11 As someone else has already said, just let us know when you find an example of a cis teen jock who decides to transition in order to win at sports.

The fraction of people who transition is tiny, even today. The fraction of people who excel at sports is also tiny. Multiply those two tiny fractions together, and you get "neither you or anyone you know will ever personally encounter a person who is both." At the elite level? Elite athletes are a microscopic percentage of people who merely excel at athletics.

Statistically, there is effectively zero chance of this ever being a problem to you in your local sporting life, even less so in your appreciation of pro/elite sports.

And if it does happen? If once every six decades a trans athlete does win an elite competition of some sort? Well then what the hell, why not let them have the trophy? It's not like the world of sports never has quirky winners, or winners accused of cheating despite official rulings to the contrary, or winners some fans just decide to be grumpy about for whatever other reason.

Just roll with it, it'll be fine.

32

@30 Agree with your points that this is complex which is why I equally don't understand the unwillingness of the pro supporters to even acknowledge we are potentially creating an uneven playing field for biological females. It's probably even more nuanced in that this really applies to sports that are purely about physical ability (like track which was the case I pulled) vs something like golf which has some physical ability but you can argue is more about refining a skill through practice.

@28 I'm not talking about pro/elite sports. Agree that will sort itself out. I'm talking about the local level like the case I pulled in CT. Are you comfortable with that outcome that those girls who had trained were denied because a competitor was biologically superior? Like I said before, its acceptable to say the greater good of the letting trans athletes compete outweighs the injustice on other athletes but you should empathize with them and understand their frustration. That is what lies at the heart of some of these laws.

33

@30 can I also just say I appreciate you having a civil conversation about this. I'm so happy Professor Dipshit has already blocked me so I don't have to be the target of his unhinged ire today.

35

I think that West Seattle should double deck those parking lots. It's idiotic that they would even consider getting rid of them.

40

@11: This is where the LGBQT community tends to lose me, it has to be 100% or you are a complete whatever phobe.

The all or nothing attitude is why so much of current dialog (on a lot of subjects) smacks of religion substitute. Revealed religion is ground zero for 'in group' and 'out group' aka 'saved' vs 'unsaved'. I have never seen, read or heard so much dialog that could be so easily edited to read as coming from a religious nutcase. Just substitute certain words and there you go. The same people insisting there is no discussion on trans issues would be uptight Baptists had they been born in different circumstances.

41

@34, On the surface, you might think that Jenner's lived experience as both an elite athlete and trans person might be a valid viewpoint.

But those two data points are decades apart. Jenner's lived experience as an elite athlete were in the 1970s, when she still had a male body, male hormones, identified as male, and competed as male in male sports. She transitioned to female several decades later. Although she has described some of the gender dysphoria she experienced back then, she nevertheless competed in male sports with a male body at the time.

This is completely different than the current (wholly made up) controversy. Current trans athletes, mostly much younger, some still in school, are talking about playing sports during and after their transition. Trans youth today who receive appropriate medical care generally receive hormones and/or hormone blockers appropriate to the gender they identify as. When a M-F trans person takes hormones and blockers prior to puberty, they never develop the heavier bone and muscle structure more typical of a male body. If they start the hormones after puberty begins or as late-teen/young-adult, they quickly shed muscle mass and bone density. So the "unfair" claim is non existent in a modern trans athlete who is receiving appropriate medical care.

And since Jenner has no experience whatsoever in athletics during or post-transition, then her lived experience is irrelevant to the discussion of trans athletes. She never competed as a trans athlete.

45

Get a load of Caitlyn's Shop page on her pathetic site. The top photo says it all.

Issues page? None.

https://secure.winred.com/caitlynforca/storefront/

46

@35, the rationale is not just the money the Junction needs to cover the tax bill which goes in the 6 figures, but the expectation is that the eventual light rail that arrives will be a short walking distance from those apartments, so it could be very profitable for the developer making the offer.

That being said, I don't think those apartments are going to be affordable for poor people.

48

@32 Sure I'm comfortable with it, why wouldn't I be?

There's all sorts of hubbub and grumbling and infantile outrage in youth sports organizations in thousands of places I've never heard of, and I'm not especially troubled by any of that, either.

Does the particular case you mention affect you? It does not. Are all of the athletes involved in that far-off inconsequential amateur youth sports league outraged? Why no, they are not, it turns out quite a few of them have a much healthier perspective on youth sports than you seem to.

If they'd just given that young trans athlete a trophy and reported it the same way high-school sports are always reported, you wouldn't even know it had happened. If a few Connecticut teens got their feelings hurt because they didn't win and they haven't entirely learned how to be good sports about it yet and their Connecticut mommies and daddies didn't take advantage of the learning opportunity there and instead started grousing to their friends in the media, well, how on earth does that affect me, or you?

50

@44: What's going on prof - your super ego is nagging your id again?

51

@48 fair enough and you're right it doesn't impact me at all. I always find it interesting though when we are willing to create a new injustice to right a previous injustice. I always feel like if that is the solution you are willing to live with you aren't really solving anything you are just shifting the issue to a new group. When that happens you shouldn't then be surprised when those in power choose to use that as a way to sway public opinion.

52

The acorn is cute...

54

@51 You're getting way, way ahead of yourself. What injustice is anyone creating by giving a trophy to a trans participant in a youth sports league? What issue are you shifting to a new group, whatever you might mean by that?

It's a youth sports league, for heaven's sake. The only issue anyone should worry about is making sure those kids are healthy and well-adjusted and learning to play well with others and, I dunno, maybe having a little fun, too.

56

@55 Alternately, all this hand-wringing about the very very totally serious and important consequences of placing second in a high-school track meet is just a way to avoid publicly saying trans people have the cooties and should be kept away from children who do not want the cooties and parents who do not approve of the cooties.

I know, I know, kinda implausible, but let's keep an open mind.

57

BEEP BEEP RIBBY RIBBY

59

@54/56 go ahead and dismiss it as privilege or whining or whatever you want but to the girls who are denied the lifetime memory of winning a state championship or are cut from a team after they gave their entire effort because someone is biologically superior to them I would imagine it’s not minor and they may be a little salty. You’re right though life isn’t fair however everyone should at least have an equal playing field. Maybe to you it’s not an injustice but who are to scoff at their lived experience? The fact you can’t empathize with these other athletes even a little bit is actually pretty sad. My point remains that this type of fuck off attitude displayed towards these girls is why politicians are able to exploit the issue.

60

@59 Um, girls are cut from teams every season because someone else has more athletic ability than they do, without a trans person anywhere near the school.

You don't have an even playing field WITHOUT trans people, and the presence of this tiny, tiny fraction of trans teens -- a fraction of which in turn are even interested in sports never mind excel at them -- sprinkled here and there amongst the thousands upon thousands of teen sport leagues of the world is not going to make an iota of difference in which marginally capable teen athletes make the team at the bottom of the roster and which other marginally capable teen athletes do not. You're going to get a bazillion times more unfair keeps and cuts due to interfering parents exploiting their community status and connections.

Caring more about the mental and physical health and social development of teen athletes than about their win/loss records is not a "fuck off attitude," and you really need to sit yourself down and think a little bit about that.

61

So the girls who are complaining about competing against trans athletes are just whiners who need to sit down and shut up? Does their mental health and well being not matter? You are only viewing this through one lens and that is absolutely a fuck off attitude. Like I said your inability to empathize with them even a little is really sad and why this will continue to be politicized.

62

And saying it’s statistically insignificant is bullshit. It discounts those who are impacted. I could equally say the number of trans kids impacted by bans is insignificant as well so what does it matter? It matters to the people who are impacted by this issue.

63

@61 The girls complaining about trans athletes need a lesson in good sportsmanship, yes, absolutely. Their parents probably need a lesson as well, possibly in more than just good sportsmanship.

These upset teens are in no way shape or form going to be hurt, physically or mentally, by competing against trans athletes. Their ability to interact socially with people different from themselves in their own local communities will be enhanced. At the level we're talking about, who goes home with the trophy is the least important aspect of the sport. I have empathy for anyone who finds themselves stewing over a loss in a youth sports league, absolutely, but the problem is the stewing, not the losing. You can have empathy for someone and still hope they will grow and develop better coping skills as they move through their teen years.

Or long after their teen years, in your case. It isn't trans lives making you miserable, you're making yourself miserable by seeking out and obsessing over articles about trans people you've never met and probably never will. There are better ways to live, you don't have to do this to yourself.

64

Rest in peace, Olympia Dukakis. Now I've got to go watch Moonstruck and Steel Magnolias again.

@20 xina and 30 blip: Agreed, seconded, and thirded for the WIN! No further questions, Your Honor. I have nothing more to add.

@23, @25 & @26 Lissa: Agreed and seconded on your good points made about trans gender athletes. I have greatly missed you in the comment threads. It is good to see you back. I hope all is well your way. Sending big cyber hugs, positrons, and VW beeps. :)

65

Bingo auntie Gee re Lissa's
Stating The Obvious
@23, 25, & 26:

don't 'Like' girl Transies competing against
girls, with a male's physical attributes?

then: let 'em have the
Hormones they're asking for.

end of Problem
other than all
the Moralizing.

66

@65 kristofarian: Just imagine what kind of utopian universe we could all live in if there were no politics or RWNJs.

68

LOL, "look at mean Seattle cops mistreating rioters and (gasp!) riding over a mural, boo".
2 minutes later, "look at Belgian cops using water cannons on a peaceful protest, how entertaining! I wish Seattle cops did that!"

Really, you call your pitiful propaganda blog "news" and "media"?

69

To add to my comment above, looks like Stranger's editorial position is "police violence against protesters is ok as long as we disagree with the protest". I will make sure to cite that in arguments!

70

@68, 69:

Thirsty?

tS's got
H2O by the
Firehoseful.


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