For those not familiar with my use of the term “transanity,” I’m not demeaning the struggles of those who believe they are trapped in the wrong body. Rather, I use the term to describe the denial of biological verities, the idea that reality is whatever you perceive it to be, and the extremist agenda that flows from this mindset.

So, while I have compassion on those who struggle, I stand against the extremist agenda.

For example, I have compassion on a six-year-old boy who feels tormented by his male organ and sees it as some kind of birth defect. How can we not have compassion on such a child?

At the same time, I have zero sympathy for parents who choose to raise their children as gender neutral until the child determines its sex. And I have less than zero sympathy for those who now refer to their littles ones as “theybies” rather than “babies.” (The “they” is because these parents refer to their infants as “they” rather than “he” or “she.”) This is a classic example of transanity.

The Case of Charlotte, North Carolina

I witnessed a pushback against transanity a few years ago in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the mayor and city council were poised to pass a bill effectively declaring all public bathrooms and locker rooms gender neutral.

We knew where the vote was heading, seeing that liberals outnumbered conservatives 6-3, and had the backing of the mayor. But the bill failed to pass that year when two of the liberal members, both males, insisted that the bill be modified. These men were uncomfortable with the idea of their wives sharing bathrooms with biological men or their daughters sharing locker rooms (or shower stalls) with biological boys.

But of course. This is perfectly rational.

The famously liberal Charlotte Observer came under sharp (and well-deserved) criticism when it opined that girls would just have to overcome the discomfort of seeing male genitalia in their bathrooms and locker rooms. Transanity indeed.

Transanity in Sports Competitions

Now, parents and students are saying enough is enough when it comes to sports competitions. Enough with biological males competing against biological females. It is unfair and it is unmerited, regardless of the feelings of the trans-identified boys.

It’s bad enough when an adult male weightlifter identifies as a woman and crushes the female competition, setting records along the way.

But it’s even worse when it happens to school children.

As the Daily Wire reported on June 7,

You wonder how the other runners may have felt.On Monday, when Connecticut had its State Open track and field championships at Willow Brook Park, one person broke the State Open records for girls in both the 100 and 200-meter runs.That person was a biological boy.Terry Miller of Bulkeley, a transgender, won the events. In the 100 meter dash, the runner-up was Andraya Yearwood of Cromwell, also a transgender.

What was the response to this travesty of athletic fairness?

Asked about the two girls who worked for years who got knocked out of the finals by Miller and Yearwood and the two girls who finished seventh and eighth in the finals who were denied a chance to compete in the New England championships, CIAC executive director Karissa Niehoff said, “We do feel for them. Fully agree it doesn’t feel good. The optic isn’t good. But we really do have to look at the bigger issues that speak to civil rights and the fact this is high school sports.”

It’s About Time Somebody Said Something

Thankfully, some of the parents and students were thinking clearly.

As the Daily Mail reported, “Students and parents demand ‘unfair rule’ change after two transgender teen sprinters come first AND second in the girl’s state championship, months after one competed as a boy.”

One of the female runners said, “I think it’s unfair to the girls who work really hard to do well and qualify for Open and New Englands.”

Of course it’s unfair. How could anyone disagree?

The Daily Wire noted that “coach Gary Moore told Hearst Connecticut Media that Miller should be able to compete, but the situation ‘wasn’t fair to the girls,’ adding, something should be done to ‘level the playing field.’” He then said,

I’ve been stopped by at least five coaches, all of them saying they really liked what I said in the paper. How come other coaches aren’t talking? This is a big issue a lot of coaches have, that we’ve got to do something, but how come you’re not saying anything? I’ve said what I needed to say. I’m getting a little annoyed with the coaches that we haven’t been able to get together and do what’s best for everybody.

Mr. Moore, you should be more than a little annoyed. For boys to compete against girls is not fair and not just and not right. It’s about time somebody said something.

Doing the Right Thing

But the one comment that said it all came from one of the girls, Selina Soule, of Glastonbury High. She agreed that in certain areas, boys and girls should compete against each other. “Of course,” she said, “it should be that way for math and science and chorus.”

But it’s different when it comes to sports. As she said, “Sports are set up for fairness. Biologically male and female are different. The great majority is being sacrificed for the minority.”

Let’s repeat that last sentence one more time, since it’s the very essence of transanity: “The great majority is being sacrificed for the minority.”

This will not continue without a pushback.

May the opposition rise up and do the right thing. And may we continue to study the question of transgender identity, working for a compassionate solution to help people find wholeness from the inside out.

This article originally posted at Stream.org.

If our world survives a few more generations, historians will doubtless look back at our current era and ask, “Was there something in the water? Something in the air? How is it that an entire society went mad at the same time?”

If you’ve read my columns over the years, you know I have compassion for those who genuinely struggle with their gender identity. That is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, something I do not treat lightly. At the same time, you know that I have often spoken against today’s cultural madness in which perception becomes reality.

In the latest example of that madness, the Boston Marathon (among other marathons) has announced that men who identify as women can compete with the women.

Since everyone runs together, it would simply mean that their times would be compared with the times of the female runners. And since both the male winner and the female winner receive the same prize money ($150,000 in Boston), if a man who identifies as a woman beat the other ladies, he would win the prize.

Again, I’m not questioning the fact that some men believe they are really women (and vice versa). I’m simply stating the obvious: These men are not biological women, and it is not fair for a biological male to compete against a biological female. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist at MIT to explain these simple facts.

But who cares about facts these days? What I feel is the only thing that matters. My morality. My truth. My reality.

Yet this corporate insanity is not limited to America.

Writing for the Daily Wire, Amanda Prestigiacomo tells us what is happening in Iran:

“The Iranian ‘women’s soccer team has found a loophole. Instead of comprising a team of actual women, they have added on eight full-grown men who they claim are transgender and awaiting sex changes.

“‘The country’s football association was accused of being “unethical” for knowingly fielding eight men in its women’s team,’ reports The Telegraph.

“‘[Eight players] have been playing with Iran’s female team without completing sex change operations,’ said Mojtabi Sharifi, an official described as ‘close to the Iranian league.’”

Yes, “Members of the national team were ordered on Wednesday to undergo gender testing. Iran’s soccer governing body implemented random checks in 2014 after four women’s team players were discovered to be biological men who never underwent a sex change.”

If you’re wondering why these male players weren’t noticed before, it’s because, “Players on the Iranian women’s team are mandated to wear long-sleeved jerseys, pants, and hijabs.” (Adding to the sad irony of this story is this: While homosexual acts are punishable by death in Iran, sex-change surgery is “rampant” and is actually pushed on gays by some Islamic clerics.)

To say it once more: I’m not passing judgment on the motivation of these men. I’m not making a determination about the absence or presence of gender confusion in their lives.

I’m simply saying that there’s a reason we have boys’ sports and girls’ sports in our children’s schools (let’s not forget about the locker rooms and showers!). And there’s a reason we divide into male and female sports in every major professional league, as well as the Olympics. Men and women are built differently.

Last year Science Daily reported that “Researchers identif[ied] 6,500 genes that are expressed differently in men and women.”

Specifically:

“Weizmann Institute of Science researchers recently uncovered thousands of human genes that are expressed – copied out to make proteins – differently in the two sexes. Their findings showed that harmful mutations in these particular genes tend to accumulate in the population in relatively high frequencies, and the study explains why. The detailed map of these genes, reported in BMC Biology, provides evidence that males and females undergo a sort of separate, but interconnected evolution.”

This makes perfect sense.

A 2014 report from the University of Helsinki indicated that “Identifying genetic associations with X chromosomal genes can be particularly valuable in helping researchers to understand why some characteristics, such as height, differ between sexes…Because women have two copies of this chromosome and men only one, identifying genetic associations with X chromosomal genes can be particularly valuable in helping us to understand why some characteristics differ between sexes.”

Is anyone really surprised?

I do understand that a tiny percentage of people have a chromosomal or genetic or biological abnormality, because of which they do not fit neatly into normal categories. But I seriously doubt that the 8 men playing on the Iranian women’s soccer team fit into this unique, neither fully male nor fully female category. Or that Bruce Jenner fits into this category. Or that the first man who will run as a woman in one of the marathons will fit into this category.

Last year, “Andraya Yearwood, a freshman who was born a male, won the girls 100-meter and 200-meter dashes at the Connecticut high school Class M state championships.

“Kate Hall — who last year won the girl’s 100-meter dash Class M state title as a sophomore — came in second to Yearwood at this year’s 100-meter race and was tearful in the aftermath, the Hartford Courant reported.

“‘It’s frustrating,’ Hall of Stonington High School told the Courant. ‘But that’s just the way it is now.’”

Let’s hope it doesn’t stay that way for long.

This article was originally published at AFA.net

I did not intend to write about this story, but when I saw a picture of the teenager in question, I had to. He is 15-years-old, clearly a biological male. Look at his picture for yourself, mustache and all. As Joy Pullman notes on The Federalist, he has “not taken drugs nor undergone surgery to mimic femininity.” Yet he was allowed to compete against other girls in a recent sporting event, and to no one’s surprise, he won – quite handily, at that. Is this what is meant by “equality”?

In recent weeks, we’ve read about a female high-school wrestler who identifies as male and who has been taking testosterone to prepare to “transition” to male. Unsurprisingly, she defeated the other girls, all of whom are not taking testosterone.

We also read about a male weightlifter who now identifies as female. Unsurprisingly, he defeated the women he competed against, setting a new record along the way.

Other examples could be supplied as well, since this is becoming more and more common.

How is this fair? How can progressives and liberals and leftists and LGBT activists and their allies think this is right? And do the feminists of the world really want to engage in head-to-head athletic competition with their male peers?

If this was done in the world of professional sports, there would not be a single woman winning, let alone playing, at the elite, highest levels.

Not one female basketball player would earn a berth in the NBA. Not one female athlete would make it to the Olympics – in swimming or rowing or weightlifting or skiing or running or jumping or hurdling or boxing. Not one.

Men would dominate in every event, and women would be relegated to cheerleading.

That’s why we have men’s sports and women’s sports, men’s world records and women’s world records. And that why we celebrate the accomplishments of female athletes as females rather than comparing them to males.

There is nothing sexist about this. There is nothing hateful about this. There is nothing condescending about this. This is a matter of fairness, equality, and common sense.

At least it should be. Today, common sense is in danger of extinction, and concepts like fairness and equality are turned upside down.

The 15-year-old in question goes by the name of Andraya Yearwood, and as the Hartford Courant reported, Andraya’s first event with female peers was a cause for celebration: “With family, friends and teammates cheering her on at her first high school track meet, Andraya won the girls 100- and 200-meter dashes, and helped her 4 x 100-meter relay team take second place.”

What did this look like in person? One picture says it all, as Andraya leaves the other girls behind, girls who trained so hard for these events, only to be beaten by a boy. And I mean beaten decisively.

But Andraya’s mother had a response to anyone would protest the event: “I know they’ll say it is unfair and not right, but my counter to that is: Why not? She is competing and practicing and giving her all and performing and excelling based on her skills. Let that be enough. Let her do that, and be proud of that.”

What kind of logic is that? Because this 15-year-old biological male is competing and practicing and giving his all, that makes it fair and right for him to compete with his female peers? No matter what these other girls do, no matter how hard they try, no matter how much they push themselves, they will not be able to keep up with an equally devoted male peer. How is this fair and right to them?

Andraya’s father is also supportive, saying that his son is competing just where he should be competing, also explaining that you are born into a particular body but you grow into being a particular person.

But athletic events are conducted in the body, regardless of how the person inside that body identifies. Yet when people ask Mr. Yearwood, “Why is your daughter running with the girls?” his response is, “Because she’s my daughter, much like the reason your daughter is running with girls.”

With all respect to the Yearwood family, and with understanding that for them this was a matter of life and death for their child, what Mr. Yearwood is saying is patently false. His child is not running with the other girls the same way the other daughters are running, just like his child does not have to deal with monthly periods or female hormonal changes, since Andraya is not like the other girls.

“But,” you ask, “what about Andraya? What if Andraya has gender dysphoria? What if identifying as female will save her life?”

That is between Andraya and his family and the Lord. But Andraya’s personal struggles cannot be imposed on everyone else, meaning, as a biological male, he has no business competing with other girls, or, for that matter, sharing their locker rooms and shower stalls. That is not the meaning of equality.

Even according to activist ideology, gender is a social construct but sex is biological. And when it comes to male and female athletic competition, we divide based on biological sex.

In the end, this is just one more example of why I believe LGBT activism will ultimately defeat itself.

You cannot wage a winning war against gender distinctions any more than you can redefine marriage while preserving its integrity. As expressed by Joy Pullmann, “It’s a pretty sure bet Americans did not expect tolerance for two consenting adults doing whatever behind closed doors to become a spearhead for forcing naked boys to shower next to naked girls and make girls second-class players on their own fields.”

Exactly.

And so, I appeal to progressivists, leftists, feminists, and LGBT allies and their allies, along with all those who cherish fairness, equality, and justice. Look carefully at the trajectory of your activism, and ask yourself: Is this really the kind of world that you want?

This article was originally posted at Townhall.com