This is probably a condemnation of the establishment Democrats as much as anything. Trans rights are human rights, and human rights should be a winning electoral issue with proper messaging. But eDems are going to spend all their time on this issue trying to convince Republican leaning voters that they too care about protecting our precious daughters from the scourge of men pretending to be women.
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Right, just like school and sport integratiom during Jim Crow was a loser as well, right?
Which side should we be on?
I donât think that part you quoted from Riverman is off the mark.
I donât like it, but many low-informed people are going to latch on to this and convince others that this is what âfighting for trans rightsâ is.
Maybe, but if so, then for perspective, Iâd say yes, we should hear about the trans woman who finished 16th, and the many who ride the bench. Maybe then it would be easier to reach a collective conclusion on the issue.
Itâs unfortunate but it really is descriptively probably the single worst issue for Democrats out there. Itâs literally one of the only topics where the GOP does have a legitimate argument, itâs a red meat cultural wedge issue, and because what we are talking about is a small chunk of the population being able to play sports, itâs far less important than healthcare, or the environment, or income inequality, or foreign policy, or criminal justice reform, or financial regulation. You can practically see the glee in the GOPâs eyes whenever this comes up. As others have mentioned itâs much easier to explain why gay people should be able to get married than why itâs fair for Lia Thomas to compete with other women. The better political analogy perhaps is reparations, as an ethically complex yet strategically dubious topic.
I understand that itâs insensitive and donât have a great solution, but any time spent talking about it has a massive opportunity cost, and I donât think itâs fair to ascribe transphobia to people coming to this conclusion. Itâs more closely related to the way a large segment of the left depicts woke politics as a distraction towards achieving broadly popular economic goals. Whether this is true or not is certainly complicated, but itâs necessary to think about.
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Of course there arenât elite gymnasts that tall.
I said âjust aboutâ every one. Cherry picking a single sport doesnât disprove my point.
Which side we should be on and which side is better in the polls are two different questions.
The quote you responded to was Riverman saying that this issue is bad for dems in the polls.
I know that Riverman has other opinions beyond that, but I guess you just picked an odd one to quote. Maybe if you had quoted a different Riverman posting, your response would have made more sense to me.
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Uh huh.
And what about parents who want fairness and acceptance for their trans child?
Fuck those people, amiright?
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In the same way they have a âlegitimate argumentâ about the burden of high taxes. In theory, I guess so, in reality, no fucking way itâs bullshit all the way down.
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But as I mentioned in my other post, we should be kicking and screaming demanding that eDems get their shit together to defend trans people in a coherent and effective way, not hope that they can win over some transphobic Republicans by promising them that Dems will lower taxes, increase military spending, and ban trans women from sports. We donât want Dems to keep chasing the Rs to the right, and we should see this clearly.
I think there are enough sports where anyone who has some skill can try to find their niche. Bulk works great for a football lineman, but not so much for a long distance runner. Height is great for basketball, but not gymnastics.
I donât see how any of what you posted is at odds with pointing out which side of a position polls more favorably (which is what Riverman was doing in the specific part that was quoted).
They might care if it was for like, their college football/basketball, but they these issues have only propped up in very niche sports and you end up with front page stories about collegiate swimming is laughable.
My point is that you can replace âbasketballâ in that sentence with a lot of other sports. You cannot replace âgymnasticsâ with nearly as many.
This is inherent in MMA. 7 men have died. Here is a woman who died facing a frmale opponent in her same weight class.
We always hear about the Fox incident but never this. Why do you think that is?
This sounds like youâve never talked with or read the words of a trans person. The rate of suicide among trans people is incredibly high, especially when they havenât transitioned, because they usually feel just crushing emotional turmoil about not living their authentic lives. Most will tell you that if there were a magic pill that would just make them feel like they belonged to the gender that matched their body plan, there was at least one point in their lives when they would have taken it in an instant, but there is no such pill, and there is no easy reconciliation between the body they were born with, the identity they were assigned, and who they feel like they actually are. So, no, itâs not just about changing a hair style. These are people who need some compassion due to deep inner issues, and some humility, because we cis dudes donât really know what itâs like.
Wow
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I can think of only three sports that tall people dominate - basketball, volleyball, and rowing.
There are a lot of unremarkable trans athletes. We donât hear about them for the same reason we donât hear about other unremarkable athletes. Lia, the woman who just started this latest round, finished 5th in a different swimming event, and yet everyone is still convinced she used a cheat code that can win anything.
So, no blacks in running then. Got it.