I've written time and again about the gross unfairness of allowing "transgender women" — in other words, men — to play on women's sports teams. While the United States college athletics programs still seem to be down with it, across the pond in the United Kingdom, there have been some glimmerings of sanity on this issue. Most recently, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer reported that the British government is urging the Football Association (FA) to consider an outright ban on men in women's sports. The FA has been taking a softer line on the matter, but that may be changing.
The policy has been under review by the FA which is trying to balance out the sport being inclusive but also fair and safe.
Players over the age of 16 assigned male at birth wanting to compete in women's football have to show their blood testosterone levels are "within natal female range for an appropriate length of time so as to minimise any potential advantage".
Annual checks are required.
But Ms Frazer told Sky News: "I think it's very important that women are able to compete against women and there's an inherent unfairness, that if you're not biologically a woman, you have a competitive advantage.
That's something of an understatement.
As I've pointed out repeatedly, there are significant physical differences between men and women, and those differences are inherent from birth, although it's true that puberty makes the differences even more pronounced.
These are facts.
Ms. Frazer also pointed out that other sporting organizations have already moved on the issue.
"And I think a number of sports have looked at this very carefully and come to the decision that it's not appropriate to have women competing against people who are not biologically women.
"We've seen that in rowing. We've seen that in swimming. And I would encourage other sporting bodies to look at that very carefully."
Other sports organizations are also taking another hard look at this issue.
World Athletics last year decided to prioritise sporting fairness over inclusivity by excluding those assigned male at birth from competing in female world ranking competitions.
The International Cricket Council also changed its policy last year so male-to-female players who have been through any form of male puberty will not be eligible to take part in the international women's game regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken.
Ms Frazer's deputy, Stuart Andrew, said in a separate interview that they are meeting the national governing bodies from all sports "very soon" to discuss the matter.
Fortunately, while British athletics seem to be having a sudden rush of brains to the head on this issue, and even the British National Health Service is awakening to the damage "transgender" treatments can do to children, women athletes here in the States are still fighting to keep men out of their sports — and their locker rooms.
See Related: The NHS Bans Puberty Blockers for Minors, Marking a Major Turning Point in the 'Trans' Conversation
Women Athletes Suing NCAA Over Transgender Policy Allowing Men in Women's Sports
Maybe, at least in sports, we are coming back to a time when boys are boys and girls are girls; maybe even back to a time when a girl could be an outdoorsy, active tomboy without someone, like, say, a teacher, trying to convince her that she's a dude.
See Related: American Woman: In Defense of Hannah Barron and the Tomboy
This entire social contagion is long past its sell-by date. It's one thing for adults to make decisions for themselves; most of us won't understand it, and it's difficult to see how any practicing, ethical physician can prescribe these treatments or perform these procedures and still face themselves in the mirror every morning. But the "transgender" movement is not only forcing men into women's sports and women's locker rooms — it's advocating this stuff to our kids; there are parents who, in a staggering display of Munchausen-by-Proxy are claiming to have that latest of leftist status icons, a "transgender" child; there are, even worse, physicians who are too willing to pump these kids full of puberty-blockers, hormones and even carry out surgeries on the healthy bodies of minors, irreparable surgeries that ensure these kids will never lead normal lives and will likely never have kids of their own.
Men on women's sports teams is grossly unfair to the women. Granted, there are far more serious issues around the entire "transgender" craze. But at least in the United Kingdom, there are some signs that a measure of sanity is returning to the populace. If barring men from women's sports and women's locker rooms is where it starts, then so be it.
