Democrats spent a lot of time campaigning as the "party of women's rights" this year, but if you've been paying close attention lately, they're anything but..unless your top priority in life is getting an abortion. Just assuming that I'm going to vote for you because you're the party of abortion is an insult in and of itself. Heck, their favorite Supreme Court justices can't even tell you what a woman is.
Right now, as a woman, I have more pressing issues on my mind. I need my grocery bill not to be $300 a week. I need to be able to operate my small business without being taxed to death or losing clients to an economy that scares the hell out of people. I need to be able to go for a walk or a run without worrying about an increase in crime in the neighborhood. I need for my country to be strong and secure and protect me from other countries and their residents who want to harm me.
And I need for all of my fellow women to be able to participate in sports — professional, college, amateur, youth, or otherwise — without having men on their teams. Luckily, some college athletes have had enough of this type of nonsense, and they're taking legal action.
San Jose State volleyball player Brooke Slusser, along with SJSU associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, and 10 other college athletes have filed a lawsuit against the school and the Mountain West Conference, the NCAA Division I conference in which the school plays.The women claim that their Title IX rights have been violated by SJSU allowing a transgender athlete on the volleyball team.
"Among the allegations in the lawsuit are that SJSU coach Todd Kress gave the player in question preferential treatment, that the Mountain West amended its transgender athlete participation policy without following conference protocol and that the conference fostered an unsafe environment by allowing the athlete to play," according to ESPN.
Fox News reported that several female athletes were overlooked for scholarships because of the transgender player's "physical dominance." The lawsuit documents also suggest that Slusser felt her personal safety was in danger when the transgender athlete and another player got together and put a plan in place to have the ball spiked right at her head in a match with Colorado State.
Upon hearing about the plan, Batie-Smoose attempted to stand up for the girls on the team by talking to Kress and filing a Title IX complaint, but she was suspended from the program. "They took away the only safe space we had," Slusser said of losing her coach. She also accused the school of silencing people who were just trying to stand up for what's right.
SJSU has not commented on the lawsuit beyond saying they're reviewing it, while the Mountain West Conference said that it "prioritizes the best interests of our student-athletes and takes great care to adhere to NCAA and MW policies." Slusser has made numerous media appearances over the last couple of weeks, stating that most of her teammates and other athletes from around the US support her, but they're afraid to speak out, so she's doing so on their behalf. Former NFL sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya appeared on Fox News and applauded Slusser's outspokenness and said more women need to speak up for the truth. She added:
"What it's done is, it's not just taken spots away from women on teams, awards away from women on teams — it has asked normal people to deny the truth in life that men and women are different. It is forcing people to shut up and not say what is true...that men and women are biologically different. You don't see women going over and playing in men's sports, women who identify as men, they don't go into that avenue because they wouldn't survive it. But men are coming over to the women's side...you are imposing on this team, on this conference, on these players, and on all of us, that we just shut up and deny the facts of life."
Personally, I don't understand what's so difficult about that. Do a quick Google search and you'll see numerous people calling Slusser a "bigot" and crying about how she's trying to take "trans rights" away from people. I guess I missed that part. If you feel that you are transgender, go for it. You do you. Start your own volleyball team! But you don't have the right to ask the rest of the world to turn itself upside down and deny science so you can feel included. Sometimes, you have to play by the rules or you simply don't get to play at all.
I'll leave you with Serena Williams, arguably one of the best female athletes of our time, explaining that even she would lose in a tennis match to a professional male athlete because men are generally faster and stronger.
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