(Daily Caller News Foundation) – Social media users criticized the American Civil Liberties Union for claiming Wednesday that biological men have no competitive advantage over women in sports.
In a series of tweets debunking “myths” about trans athletes, the ACLU said that “trans girls are girls,” that there are a wide range of physical characteristics that define gender and that no hormone levels, body parts, or even chromosomes can define what gender a particular person is.
“Attacks on trans youth in sports are showing up in dozens of state legislatures nationwide,” the ACLU tweeted. “These bans are discriminatory, harmful, and unscientific. Here’s why.”
Attacks on trans youth in sports are showing up in dozens of state legislatures nationwide.
These bans are discriminatory, harmful, and unscientific. Here's why ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/N2oedbpW5u
— ACLU (@ACLU) February 3, 2021
The ACLU also tweeted that “trans athletes do not have a competitive advantage in sports,” claiming that it is a myth that physiological differences in gender give some athletes competitive advantages in sports.
“In many states, the very same cis-girls who have claimed that trans athletes have an ‘unfair’ advantage have consistently performed as well as or better than their transgender competitors,” the ACLU tweeted.
Critics accused the ACLU of lacking evidence for the claim that biological men have no physiological advantage over women in sports.
Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Christiana Holcomb said that “the real question” at stake in this issue is what is “most fair.”
“Eligibility standards protecting the integrity of women’s sports are pro-woman and pro-fairness,” she tweeted.
“Biological sex is a fact that the ACLU cannot change through denial,” Emilie Kao, director of Heritage’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Males are generally bigger, faster and stronger than females. They tend to have denser bones, larger lungs and hearts and stronger muscles. Victories, medals, and scholarships in sports are won by the fittest, fastest, and the strongest determined by fair competitions.”
She continued, “But, the bodies of male athletes enable them to consistently achieve performances 10% to 20% better than their female counterparts. Their entry into girls and women’s sports makes competition unfair and ACLU’s perception of gender identity doesn’t change that fact. President Biden’s executive order on gender identity sets girls and women back to before 1972, when Title IX was enacted, by erasing biological sex from the law.”
The Blaze’s Allie Beth Stuckey mocked the ACLU for spreading “baseless propaganda,” saying in a Thursday tweet, “I understand you guys are lawyers and activists and not scientists, but it doesn’t take a biologist to know that this statement is fantasy, not fact. It’s absurd, baseless propaganda that endangers girls. Great job.”
I understand you guys are lawyers and activists and not scientists, but it doesn’t take a biologist to know that this statement is fantasy, not fact. It’s absurd, baseless propaganda that endangers girls. Great job.
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) February 4, 2021
“This is a spectacularly misleading thread, very much in line with the ACLU’s other awful, anti-science work on this subject,” tweeted author Jesse Singal. “This is a difficult, complicated conversation that won’t be resolved with sweepingly ridiculous claims. The ACLU has been clowning itself for years here.”
This is a spectacularly misleading thread, very much in line with the ACLU's other awful, anti-science work on this subject. This is a difficult, complicated conversation that won't be resolved with sweepingly ridiculous claims. The ACLU has been clowning itself for years here. https://t.co/0mXsKqXs1F
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) February 4, 2021
“FACT: Not one of these @ACLU ‘facts’ is a fact,” tweeted Abigail Shrier, the author of a book detailing an investigation into transgenderism trends.
“There is not a single scientific fact in this entire thread,” tweeted the Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro.
There is not a single scientific fact in this entire thread https://t.co/ynCUDW2gK8
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 4, 2021
President Joe Biden signed an executive order early in his term that sets the stage for rolling out transgender protections.
“Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,” Biden’s executive order said, calling for “all persons” to receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.
“It is the policy of my Administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, and to fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation,” the executive order continued.
“It is also the policy of my Administration to address overlapping forms of discrimination.”
The order gives agency heads the authority to carry out these concepts by considering “whether to revise, suspend, or rescind such agency actions, or promulgate new agency actions” in order to comply with the policies set forth in the order.
The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Mary Margaret Olohan contributed to this report.
