Trump and transgender

US president Donald Trump signed his fourth executive order involving the transgender community, banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports in America. The “No Men in Women’s Sports” order is a huge precedent which Trump aims to use as a springboard to influence other countries and even the International Olympic Committee into doing the same. Basically what Trump is saying is that, if you were born male, you cannot participate in women’s sports. According to Trump, this has nothing to do with choosing gender, but basically tries to maintain fairness in all sports. It aims to “protect women’s access to safe and fair athletic opportunities.”

US NCAA president Charlie Baker has already said that they will align their policies with the Executive Order, which basically declares that, only biologically assigned women or female females at birth will be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Men’s sports, meanwhile, will be open to all athletes, regardless of their gender at birth.

To begin with, US officials will rescind the instructions from former president Joe Biden, adding provisions in Title IX eliminating gender discrimination in sports. Basically, it allowed transgender athletes access to sports facilities and equipment and even restrooms assigned to the gender they identified with. The US Education Department has been tasked to oversee this and investigate possible violations. Beyond sports, the measure will impact other areas, like US immigration laws. Those who were born male who apply for US visas as female will be subject to punishment according to this executive order. It will be considered fraud.

The past few years have seen many controversies related to this issue, spanning mixed martial arts, swimming, Olympic boxing, and a few other sports. The tug-of-war is basically within the argument of whether or not you can choose what gender to live as. Scientifically speaking, you may change your gender, but your DNA remains the same as when you were born. This matter, well accepted in areas like politics, the arts and many professions, is a sore spot in sports, where physical parity is the foundational aspect of competition. Trump is hoping that his executive order ends the argument.

For a country like the Philippines, this is a very rare occurrence. Some of you may remember sprinter Nancy Navalta of Pangasinan, who recorded many powerful performances in the Palarong Pambansa in the early 1990s. Navalta‘s career ended a few years later when she was reportedly discovered to be intersex. This means that her reproductive system does not fit into the traditional definition of male or female. According to Cleveland Clinic, “Their genitals might not match their reproductive organs, or they may have traits of both. Being intersex may be evident at birth, childhood, later in adulthood or never.” The difference is that Navalta did not choose to be that way, whereas transgenders believe it is their right to choose their gender and be recognized as such.

In the Philippines, the biggest discussion (often in private) is the sexual orientation or femininity of female athletes and masculinity of male athletes (or lack thereof). But the women’s sports community has generally accepted its members who act male or have relationships with other females. For male athletes, the matter is almost never discussed, but some sports acknowledge that a certain percentage of their participants are, at least, effeminate.

The crux of the matter is that many people believe that being transgender is a choice that others are being forced to adjust to. You can do whatever you want, but I don’t have to go along with it. We cannot really speak for the majority, but as long as there is a palpable difference between athletes who were born male and those who weren’t, this issue will persist, if not here, in other countries.