Be Like Janet Mills!
On Equity in Sports and in the Conversation on Equity
An Open Letter to Governor Janet Mills and the People of Maine
In response to Governor Mills Courageous response to Donald Trump.
I am going to take an unpopular stance among people of my ilk. I think it is perfectly fine for well-meaning people to have difficulties with the idea of people whose bodies have been shaped by male hormones competing in women's sports. Because we need to protect trans rights and women's rights, and because this is a newish concept.
I understand that it is, in the end, not a huge issue, because the gamut of strength and hormonal influences on it is wide and straddles a huge variation. In other words, there are many women who have bodies that are shaped under the influence of testosterone as well. But people were not brought up with that knowledge and they do not understand. And it's not as if we, as a nation, have excelled in educating our children in the finer points of biology over the past 40 years. Therefore, it needs to be a conversation that has to be had publicly and often for a long time. Cultural change does not happen overnight, no matter how much we'd like it to .
What matters is whether people are committed to the concept of equity. And when you force people into a corner on issues like this, they balk.
The difficulty here is that Democratic politicians let the conversation on equity be pushed into these far reaches, and instead of putting the whole conversation on the table in response, they harden their stance. Which alienates people who are not entirely on board with radical equity on items like trans women's participation in women's sports.
Does that mean the Governor of Maine should back off? No, it does not, but do notice Trump's response and take it seriously, "the people of your state do not want men to compete in women's sports." Have the conversation, teach the problem. And while ignoring the Executive order, offer the people of Maine a middle ground they can live with for the moment, so that the whole thing becomes a wider conversation on equity and you can get people to your side instead of hardening their stance in response to your hardening of your stance.
I do not know what that looks like, and it is good I do not. But explore it. LISTEN for a change. Reach high: commit to a truth and reconciliation process and steer the real conversation toward what is really at stake here -- which is equity on a very large scale.
