Protecting Girls’ Sports in New Hampshire

WoLF has submitted written testimony before the New Hampshire House Education Committee in support of HB 1251, which would protect girls’ sports teams in New Hampshire schools.

Specifically, the text of the bill would add the following language to existing state law regarding discrimination in public schools:

Interscholastic or intramural athletic teams or sports that are sponsored by a primary or secondary school or institution of higher education and designated for “females,” “women,” or “girls” shall only be open to students of the female sex.  If disputed, a student may prove that she is of the female sex by presenting a signed physician’s statement which shall indicate the student’s sex is based solely upon:(a)  The student’s internal and external reproductive anatomy;(b)  The student’s naturally occurring level of testosterone; and(c)  An analysis of the student’s chromosomes.

We expect the Committee to vote on this bill in the upcoming weeks, and will keep you posted about it. Here is the text of WoLF’s testimony:

TO: House Education Committee

FROM: Kara Dansky, Board Member, Women’s Liberation Front

DATE: Monday, January 13, 2020RE: Please vote YES on HB 1251, relative to maintaining sex-segregated sports teams in New Hampshire schools

I am Kara Dansky, a board member with the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) – aradical feminist organization dedicated to the liberation of women.

Please vote YES on HB 1251, relative to maintaining sex-segregated sports teams in New Hampshire schools. Women and girls have an interest in competing with and against other girls for two reasons.

First, it has been demonstrated that men and boys have physiological advantages of women and girls in sports.

Dr. Gregory A. Brown states:
“Based on my professional familiarity with exercise physiology and my review of the currently available science, … it is my professional opinion that:
a. At the level of elite competition, men, or adolescent boys, have an advantage over women, or adolescent girls, in almost all athletic contests;
b. Biological male physiology is the basis for the performance advantage that men, or adolescent boys, have over women, or adolescent girls, in almost all athletic contests; and
c. Administration of androgen inhibitors and cross-sex hormones to men,or adolescent boys, after male puberty, and administration of testosterone to women or adolescent girls, after female puberty, does not eliminate the performance advantage of men or adolescent boys over women or adolescent girls in almost all athletic contests.
In short summary, men, and adolescent boys, perform better in almost all sports than women, and adolescent girls, because of their inherent physiological advantages that develop during male puberty. In general,men, and adolescent boys, can run faster, output more physical power,jump higher, and exercise greater physical endurance than women, and adolescent girls.”[1]

Second, even if men and boys did not have a physiological advantage of women and girls in sports, WoLF would maintain that women and girls should have the right, as a matter of principle, to say no to men and boys in female spaces for any reason and at any time. Women and girls should not be forced to share space or have physical contact with men and boys in sports, including locker rooms and changing rooms.

Sex is binary (male or female), fixed, and objectively verifiable, and means the biological classification of human beings as either female (“women”) or male (“men”). [2] In stark contrast to sex, “gender” and “gender identity” refer to stereotypical roles,personalities, behavioral traits, and clothing fashions that are socially imposed on men and women, in a system that operates to oppress women in particular. “Gender identity”is simply a belief system, invented and embraced by a small subset of society, which claims that a person’s affinity for sex stereotypes is innate.

Please vote YES on HB 1251.

[1] – Expert Declaration of Gregory A. Brown, Ph.D., filed in support of U.S. Department of EducationComplaint Nos. 01-19-4025 & 01-19-1252 (January 7, 2020), available at https://adflegal.blob.core.windows.net/mainsite-new/docs/default-source/documents/legaldocuments/selina-soule—title-ix-complaint/selina-soule—title-ix-complaint—complaint-filed-with-u-s-doeoffice-for-civil-rights-(2019-06-17).pdf?sfvrsn=4e2231c5_6 (last visited January 13, 2020).

[2] – See Merriam Webster Unabridged, “Sex,” “either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures,” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sex (last visited January 13, 2020).