Gaines v. Rapinoe embody battle over sports
Rising number of Americans oppose biological males playing girl’s, women’s athletics
As biological males have won championships and titles in girl’s and women’s sports, a growing number of Americans are saying “No.”
Nearly 70 percent of Americans now oppose letting biological males play female sports. That’s why this issue erupted in more than a dozen state capitals this year. This battle for the soul of America is embodied by Riley Gaines and Megan Rapinoe.
Gaines, and what very likely is the silent majority of girls and young women, desire to preserve sports for other young American females for generations to come. They want only biological females playing girls or women’s sports.
Rapinoe and several other female social justice warriors have no trouble with biological males playing in women’s sports among other woke causes (think DEI, LGBTQ, ESG).
These two women, famous from two different sports, and different experiences in the pool or on the soccer field, whether they like it or not, capture the debates that have unfolded in numerous state legislatures this year.
One of the underlying issues is the federal Title IX bill that turned 50 in 2022 and has created opportunities for a growing number of girls and young women. Americans wouldn’t know about Gaines or Rapinoe without Title IX.
On June 23, 1972, President Richard Nixon signed the law that is now known as Title IX, which extended an existing ban on sex discrimination to education. This ushered in a series of moves at American universities, colleges, and high schools to provide girls and young women opportunities with sports.
The following reveals Title IX’s impact on college women and high school girls:
That year, 2% of college athletic budgets went to women's sports.
About 15% of college women participated in sports. Colleges, on average, offered 2.5 women's teams.
While fewer than 30,000 college women participated in sports in 1981, over 200,000 did in 2017. By 2004, colleges offered more than eight women's sports teams.
During 2006-2016, the number of female athletes at the college level grew 25%.
The number of high school girls participating in sports grew 990% from 1971 to 2003.
In a four-year period in the 1970s, North Carolina State increased its women's sports budget by 15 times. The University of Michigan, which had no intercollegiate teams in 1973, had 10 by 1979.
The number of female Olympians skyrocketed. In 2016, women outnumbered men 292 to 263 on the U.S. Olympic team, compared with 90 women to 338 men in the 1972 Olympics.
Megan Rapinoe, who retired after the USWNT 2023 World Cup loss to Sweden, starred at the University of Portland (Oregon). She played in the Women's Professional Soccer league. However, she gained notoriety on the field for leading Team USA to the gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She had multiple goals and key assists in leading the women’s soccer team. Rapinoe also participated on four USWNT for the FIFA World Cup: 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023. Rapinoe’s contributions led to the World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019. For her outstanding play in 2019, she was named FIFA’s Women’s Player of the Year.
Rapinoe also has gained attention for her actions outside of soccer. After former NFL QB Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem in 2016, Rapinoe was the first athlete to join him. The lesbian has also voiced support for LGBTQ issues, including transgenders in female sports. She jumped on the Black Lives Matter cause in 2020. Former teammate Hope Solo has accused Rapinoe of bullying teammates into taking a knee during the national anthem. These latter moves make Rapinoe the public face of biological males transitioning to be females to be allowed to compete in girl’s and women’s sports.
Riley Gaines’ athletic life as a swimmer reveals an accomplished NCAA swimming career. The University of Kentucky has a list of accomplishments, which includes that she:
Ended her Wildcat career as one of the most decorated swimmers in program history;
Named to the All-SEC First Team;
Broke the SEC meet and conference record in the 200 fly at the SEC Championships en route to earning gold;
Successfully defended her gold medal in the 200 free and also took fourth in the 100 free;
Established school records at the SECs for her three individual events; and
Earned silver in the 800 free relay with a split of the fastest in the field, also getting the bronze medal on the free leg and the fly leg of the 200 and 400 medley relays at SECs.
Gaines became more visible in summer 2022 when she challenged the NCAA and high schools allowing biological males to compete in women’s and girls sports.
Gaines told her account of University of Pennsylvania’s Will/Lia Thomas getting preferential treatment from the NCAA for any swimming championship trophies the NCAA swimming championships, the experience of having a person with male genitalia changing in a dressing room with college females–with no prior NCAA notice. She also noted young women who have been swimming their entire lives finished 9th or 17th, which put them out of being an NCAA All-American.
A second harrowing experience for Gaines occurred in April while speaking on this issue at San Francisco State University. Transgender protesters disrupted her speech, detained her by surrounding her in a hallway following the speech. The protesters also physically assaulted Gaines.
More than a dozen states pursued legislation this year to ban biological males from competing against high school girls–some extended it to colleges. Two GOP Govs. Spencer Cox of Utah and Eric Holcomb vetoed these bills. Both legislatures overrode the vetoes. The Kansas Legislature also overrode the veto of the governor. There are now 23 states with bans identified on the map created by the LGBTQ group Movement Advancement Project. There are court challenges in some states.
While Gaines and Rapinoe are the known faces and voices of this battle, it will not be won on any field or in a pool. It will be settled by Americans who determine what prevails: biological and scientific reality, or the reality of one’s choosing.