Discriminating against women in the office can lead to major problems.
But doing so on the playing fields of sports has become a part of the fabric of 21st Century America now that men can legally compete against women in athletic events.
The Department of Education announced on June 16 that gender identity will now be protected under Title IX, the federal law that has historically been used to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex.
The rule follows an executive order from President Joe Biden in January which indicated equality in school sports would be based on gender identity.
Although framed by the White House as a grand gesture in the name of equality, a mother and daughter from Hawaii are pushing back by saying the policy is turning women into losers.
Cynthia Monteleone, a World Masters track athlete, and her daughter Margaret, a runner at her local high school, appeared this week on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to talk about their experiences with men being allowed to compete in their respective sports.
Cynthia Monteleone noted that at a 2018 race in Spain, while competing for Team USA, she was dismayed to learn she would be running against a man after putting in so much hard work. Her daughter similarly shared the fact that in her 2019 debut high school meet, she came in second behind a man who identified as a woman. Were it not for the male competing in her race, Margaret would have won her first meet.
“This is a very dangerous issue,” Cynthia Monteleone said. “Not only can it be physically dangerous for girls in some sports but it’s dangerous to the whole concept of women’s sports.”
“Basically, this means the end of women’s sports if this keeps happening,” she said.
The mother noted that even after hormone treatments and gender reassignment surgery, men retain a physical advantage when competing against women.
“We don’t need science to tell us,” she said. “It’s common sense and instinct.”
Cynthia Monteleone and her daughter are working with the Independent Women’s Forum to fight back against the push to make females compete against males.
“Cynthia and Margaret are courageous for speaking out on this issue,” IWF senior policy analyst Kelsey Bolar said in a statement.
“It is fundamentally unfair that female athletes are being forced to compete against biological men who have biological athletic advantages. Women everywhere who claim to support other women should acknowledge the unfairness of the situation and work together towards a more equitable solution.”
Cynthia Monteleone said the battle for fairness is necessary.
“It is important in this time to encourage others to speak up for equality for women and girls, because there is a narrative being pushed that girls are just hormones,” she told the Daily Caller. “We are not just hormones. Changes begin in the embryo that make us different and therefore we deserve an equal opportunity based on sex not gender identity.”
“They’ve told me to be quiet for my own safety, but I won’t be quiet,” she said. “I will continue to speak up. We deserve to be heard.”
Cynthia Monteleone said her daughter deserves better than what policy-makers are giving her.
“As a coach and as a mother, seeing my daughter put in so many hours of hard work and being restrictive in her eating — maybe passing on sweets and things like that to make sure that she was strong for her race — it was heartbreaking to see that she was running as fast as she could, and still, this athlete breezed right by her,” she said.
Last year, Cynthia Monteleone, in her capacity as a high school track coach, submitted a written complaint to the Department of Education, asserting the need to block transgender athletes from competing against women.
In her complaint, she wrote that allowing boys to play against girls “will deprive females of advancement and equal opportunity to fair competition,” according to The Maui News.
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“My daughter, and the girls I coach, as well as other girls in the state of Hawaii who are comparably gifted and trained, will be deprived of placement, victories, public recognition, and opportunities to advance to more elite competition, like the state championship,” she wrote.
“Most of all, they will be deprived of getting to experience the fairness in competition that boys get to experience.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
