New York State anti-trans bill proposed, and my response

[Moonflower]

Senator Walczyk Weekly Newsletter

PROTECTING GIRLS' SPORTS

I'm proud to cosponsor S4496, a vital bill aimed at safeguarding women's athletics in our middle and high schools. It's essential that young men have no place in girls' sports.

 I joined my colleagues at a press conference to advocate for S4496 as we express our deep concerns over actions in New York State that undermine President Trump's Executive Order, "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports." This initiative reinforces fair and safe competition for female athletes, ensuring their rights under Title IX are honored.

Albany's Senate Democrats are putting political agendas before the rights and opportunities of young women. They have blocked an important vote on this measure with just one week left in the legislative session. This isn't just policy; it's about ensuring a safe and equitable environment for our girls!

The fight for women's equality in sports is hard-won, and allowing biological males to compete with female athletes is not progress—it's a betrayal of every young girl who aspires to excel in her sport. Girls dedicate countless hours to training, and this bill is crucial in protecting their futures and opportunities. We must ensure that female athletes compete fairly, without unfair advantages threatening their hard work and dedication.

My Response:

Thank you for clearly valuing girls' rights and opportunities. I'm delighted to see that the world's opportunities are much more available to girls now than when I was born.

Let's value opportunities for trans people as well.

You said that "young men have no place in girls' sports." Please note that young transgender people are often not young men, and young transwomen are not young men. Before and after puberty, height, lung size, muscle density, upper body strength, and hand breadth vary more between individuals of the same "biological sex" than they do between "normal" girls and boys.

Please help me understand how, as you put it, "...President Trump's Executive Order, "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports." This initiative reinforces fair and safe competition for female athletes, ensuring their rights under Title IX are honored....the rights and opportunities of young women." How would you honor cis girls' rights under Title IX without accidentally accusing some of them of being transgender, or subjecting all of them to invasive genital exams?

Please make me aware of any trans people who have threatened these rights and opportunities. I have not found a single trans athlete who has had any advantage that can be biomedically attributed to their gender, identity, or transition status, especially in darts, pool, dance, and chess. How will you take this into consideration?

I have adult friends who have suffered severely from decades of belief that trans people were criminal, immoral, shameful, deceptive, depraved, disgusting, depraved, deluded, deplorable... Recently-available treatments (medical and socio-cultural) make a world of difference for them and those who care about them as they socially transition. I love hearing stories of their sports competitors who embrace them as entirely eligible, valued, and welcomed women.

Are you considering trans men to be more appropriate for competing as women rather than as men? How are you defining "biological males"? Are you aware of the diversity of chromosomes, and the many questions that scientists are asking about how and when gender identity occurs?

Do you realize that the population of trans women include people of diverse sizes, skills, strengths, and weaknesses -- just like cis people?

What makes you think that trans people interfere with "ensuring a safe and equitable environment for our girls"? How do "biological males" interfere with a girl's ability to excel in any sport? Please give me real life examples, besides the alleged UN report that refers to the crowd-sourced spreadsheet that is full of dupes and false accusations.

Even though I probably know more trans people than you, and probably know them more intimately than you, I have no such concerns. It seems to me that the people who have transphobia are the people who are least familiar with trans people. Where trans people are integrated members of their community, such concerns don't seem to arise.

Regarding your concerns about fair competition, what are your thoughts about the more common concerns about the fairness of competition between people who have different levels of training opportunities, physiology, and nutrition?

Ideally, being trans is identified and addressed before puberty. In these cases, a trans girl might never go through male puberty, so then where is the unfairness?

Please consider shifting your efforts to "more scientific data derived from methodologically sound research focused on trans women athletes to build a foundation of solid evidence and to ultimately guide policy recommendations" as recommended by Paul Melia, CCES president and CEO at https://cces.ca/news/literature-review-does-not-support-bans-transgender-women-athletes

And please shift your efforts to helping trans people to access the health care that protects transgender lives.

Your stand on this issue must be "guided by the values of inclusion, fairness, and safety, and informed by research evidence" (Ibid) to identify the actual physiological characteristics of trans people and cis people.

Furthermore, consider, "More Republicans also think politicians shouldn't focus on trans issues — 57 percent vs 53 percent last year — and the number who think lawmakers should concentrate on restricting transgender rights has fallen. " https://19thnews.org/2025/04/americans-politicians-trans-issues-poll/?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=19th-republishing&utm_content=/2025/04/americans-politicians-trans-issues-poll

[Sephirah]

To play devil's advocate with this... there is a lot of the appeal to emotion logical fallacy going on with this response, but you also raise some very good points, Moonflower.

This is a horribly messy subject. And, in my opinion, a lot is based on which particular sport you are trying to cover. Darts, pool, dance, or chess... don't rely on any kind of physiological advantage. More brain power or dexterity... which anyone can have. That these sports have thrown trans people under the bus in recent times is silly and short sighted.

But... there are sports where it does matter more. And that's where it gets messy. Where people compete on a knife edge and are all too eager to cry "Trans" if they think they're going to lose. Whether there's any merit to it or not.  You put trans girls in a sport where bone density, muscle mass, cardio capacity matters and I guarantee you that AFAB people will use that to the best effect. Because that's how top end sports works. You don't need morality, only sponsorships. If it worked the other way round I guarantee you AMAB people would do exactly the same thing. And the government would be crying about trans guys encroaching on these dudes in distress.

No one really wants to do any sort of research. They just want to pander to the John and Jane Doe in the street because it gets them votes.