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President Donald Trump gave the issue of women's sports a high profile in his address to a joint session of Congress last Tuesday. By taking a stand to protect women and girls and their opportunity to compete on a level playing field—as they have for half a century since the enactment of Title IX—he is professing a common-sense view held by over 80 percent of Americans.
I have had direct experience with this issue. As a pole vault official and coach in Maine, I've been appalled by the response of my state's elected officials to a biological male winning the girls' division of this year's Maine Class B state indoor championship pole-vaulting event.
Last month, President Trump threatened to remove federal funding from Maine schools defying his "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports" executive order. Gov. Janet Mills replied that she'll see the president "in court." The governor's comment was an affront to women and girls across the state. It's shocking that our state's female governor refuses to support Maine women and girls and to represent the views of constituents who do not believe biological men belong in women's sports.
In the name of inclusion and equality, Mills and her supporters are, in no uncertain terms, erasing our female athletes' accomplishments and severely undermining women's rights.
I have seen these girls' faces and frustration every week. As an official, I believe it is my duty to do right by them, to comply with the president's executive order, and to honor their protections under Title IX.
Protecting the integrity of women's sports is not about partisan politics, but about doing the right thing. It's about common sense, fair competition, and justice for our girls.
Governor Mills' claim that she is following state law, specifically the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA), is misleading. The MHRA very specifically defines disparate impact, which "occurs when a policy or practice that is neutral on its face operates in a way that adversely impacts members of a protected class," as a category of unlawful discrimination.
Both sex and gender identity are protected classes in the MHRA. In this case the Maine Principals' Association and Maine Department of Education have decided the disparate impact felt by one protected class (gender identity) outweighs that felt by another (a sex, namely women and girls).
By choosing to enforce protections for gender identity and not for sex, officials are selectively invoking the act in a manner that disparately impacts female athletes.
When Republican state representative Laurel Libby brought this case to light, her colleagues voted to censure her, overstepping their bounds in the most un-American way possible. They denied her freedom of speech and threatened to remove her ability to vote, denying the rights of all those constituents she represents. Silencing people by fear and intimidation for speaking out does nothing to solve any problem.
There are solutions that could align with the MRHA and provide each protected class a way to compete in sports, such as open or non-binary athletic categories. But if you aren't allowed to talk about solutions, the only hope is to fight back. The United States was founded on fighting for principles, and against attempts to silence its citizens.
It is clear that a biological male has an unfair advantage over a biological female in pole vaulting. The competition results speak for themselves: the transgender athlete in the state competition jumped a staggering six inches higher than the two biologically female athletes who tied for second place—a score that ranked among Maine's top ten all-time high school female pole vaulters, but would have been a tie for tenth in the boys' competition.
This disparity is typical between men's and women's pole-vault finishes, which is typically a foot difference across all levels of competition, from the Olympic level down to the high school level. This athlete had an undeniable biological advantage over the female competitors.
It is glaringly unfair for sports officials, coaches, and school administrators to allow biological males to dominate women's and girls' divisions, and it is disgraceful that a mid-range biologically male athlete can compete in the boy's division two years prior and then suddenly become a state title holder after claiming to be female.
This approach may very well lead to the end of women's sports as we know it. The politicians opening the door for biological boys and men to compete against girls and women should see what I have seen: the desperation, sadness, and anger of young girls who had their championship slot stolen by someone with a significant, inherent, physical advantage.
They are the true victims of our politicians' selfish actions. I wish that they could have seen those faces up close and personal like I did, rather than in the safe confines of a state house or behind a keyboard.
National surveys show that nearly 80 percent of Americans oppose allowing boys to compete in girls' sports. Many of the Maine parents, coaches and athletes I have spoken to are equally outraged by this injustice but afraid to speak out. We cannot afford to be silent any longer—our daughters depend on us to protect the level playing field that took so long to secure.
Maine's elected leaders should be ashamed of the fact that female athletes around the state are the collateral damage in their battle for political victory and media coverage. Their refusal to follow President Trump's executive order is a shameful, inflammatory political stunt that is inherently anti-woman and an absurd rejection of biological reality. To witness Maine's first female governor take a stand against the girls and women of her state should leave people across the entire country aghast.
Maine girls deserve protection—without it, the hard-won guarantee of fair competition and equality in this country will be destroyed. We must take a stand against the failure of our state leaders and demand better for our daughters and female athletes.
Allen Cornwall has been a pole vault official for USA Track & Field (USATF) and Maine high schools for many years. He has also been a pole vault coach for years as a volunteer assistant and as the pole vault coach for a Maine Class A high school and has assisted coaching with a regional pole vault club.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
