In an age of rampant cancel culture, it is nice to see people stand up against the crybullies in the progressive movement. The latest controversy over transgender Lia Thomas is yet another situation in which people have spoken out against progressive transgender ideology. But will it be enough?
You may have already heard that the NCAA announced recently that Lia Thomas, a biological male who competes with biological females, was nominated for the 2022 “Woman of the Year” award by the University of Pennsylvania. Both the university and Thomas, who has been criticized for using his unfair advantage to cheat actual women out of winning at sporting events, are taking heat for the nomination – especially from other athletes.
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova took to Twitter to chime in on the announcement. She bashed the NCAA for allowing such a nomination. “Not enough fabulous biological women athletes, NCAA?!? What is wrong with you?!!!!!!!?” she tweeted.
Not enough fabulous biological women athletes, NCAA?!? What is wrong with you?!!!!!!!? https://t.co/5QAJyt0Qab
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) July 16, 2022
In a follow-up tweet responding to an individual taking issue with her remarks, she wrote: “So I should be happy that biological women are pushed aside when it comes to sports? Not on your life…#biologymatters . Do you understand the difference?”
Kim Jones, a former All-American tennis player and the mother of a woman who competed against Thomas complained that “The message all year long from Penn, honestly, the Ivy League, and the NCAA has just been that women don’t matter.”
Jones added: “They’re not worthy of receiving access to fair competition. They’re not even worthy of dignity and comfort in their locker rooms. This nomination is just the embodiment of that message.”
Jones and former NCAA champion swimmer Marshi Smith are the founders of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports. They appeared on Fox News on Monday to voice their opinions on the matter. “It’s humiliating. It’s devastating,” Jones said. “It’s really frustrating to understand where the current NCAA and Ivy League, and especially Penn’s stance is on the value of women in modern society.”
Riley Gaines, a former swimmer at the University of Kentucky and also another nominee for the award, posted a tweet calling out the NCAA for making the award “worthless.” She wrote:
Being the real girl in that photo and also University of Kentucky’s nominee for NCAA WOTY, this is yet another slap in the face to women. First a female national title and now nominated for the pinnacle award in collegiate athletics. The @NCAA has made this award worthless.
There were plenty of other folks who spoke out publicly against Thomas and the NCAA. But in the end, this won’t do much to persuade the world of collegiate sports that cheating women out of victories is morally wrong.
The issue isn’t prominent individuals, conservative media figures, and politicians making their views known on the matter. The issue is that everyday folks with daughters, sisters, and friends remain silent. Yes, there are some athletes currently on UPenn’s team who have complained. But there aren’t many in the faculty and on the team speaking out. Parents of female athletes have also remained quiet.
Much of this might be due to the reality that a lot of these athletes are at the school on scholarships and fear they might lose them if they are too loud. The athletes themselves might be afraid of reprisals from the school’s administration, and even their woke, virtue-signaling peers.
Whatever the reason, members of the administration do not feel they have to concern themselves with the issues of biological females in their midst. Indeed, they seek to stay in the good graces of the Cancel Culture Community, and this is more important to them than doing what is right. The only way these people will change course is if they fear those who know there are only two genders more than they fear the crybully crowd.
This means athletes at the school, along with their parents and even other students, would have to protest consistently to drown out those who want to see biological men beat women at sports. Moreover, UPenn and the NCAA need to know their stupidity will cost them in terms of revenue. Unless this happens, there may not be any hope for women’s sports – unless Republicans choose to pursue legislative means.
