Few people know it, but if people go to the polls this November to vote yes on a referendum to enshrine abortion rights into the New York State Constitution, they will also be voting yes on a semi-secretly hidden provision that forces schools and sport teams to allow biological males to play on girls’ sports teams.
Regardless of how you stand on either of these issues, abortion and biological males playing in female sports, the Legislature has no place combining the two in one referendum.
The reason we need an alternative media outlet such as Long Island Life & Politics is to expose this chicanery from our elected officials. Very few liberal media outlets are exposing the tying of these two issues into a single up-or-down vote.
It’s not unsimilar to what the Suffolk Legislature did last week when it placed up to referendum a proposal purportedly designed to increase the sales tax by one-eighth of a cent to construct sewers. Very few legislators, or media outlets for that matter, mention that they’ve included a provision that would extend the present quarter-penny sales tax, which is set to expire in seven years, for another 30 years with no discussion.
But back to the state’s referendum on abortion and women’s sports. We at Long Island Life & Politics applaud Nassau County in passing a resolution that keeps female sports reserved for those born anatomically female.
It’s not only common sense, but it’s following the science to say that biological girls are going to be at a competitive and safety disadvantage to those who were born biologically male.
It’s the same reason we don’t allow 16-year-olds to play against 10-year-olds.
The mainstream media tries to give the impression that this is a gay rights issue. That’s nonsense.
And it’s inaccurate to paint a picture that claims the gay community is overwhelmingly in favor of allowing biological men to play in women’s sports. The gay community is not monolithic on this, just as the straight community is split to some extent. Still, the overwhelming majority of those surveyed oppose this safety hazard and the unfair aspect of biological girls losing scholarships and recognition that was so feverishly worked for.
We don’t have a problem if the state Legislature wants to have an up-or-down vote on that specific issue, but it is simply wrong to fold that very controversial proposition into a larger vote on whether or not people want to codify abortion rights into the constitution.
Keep them separate and stop trying to fool the public.