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“I want to be your sledgehammer
Why don’t you call my name
You’d better call the sledgehammer
Put your mind at rest
I’m going to be the sledgehammer
This can be my testimony
I’m your sledgehammer
Let there be no doubt about it”
— Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer
Like everything he does, United States President Donald J. Trump took a sledgehammer to the issue of biological males competing in women’s sports.
It is generally acknowledged that biological males who self-identify as women and continue to compete with male advantages must end. But, there is no nuance with Mr. Trump. He first signed a sweeping executive order to force schools and athletic organizations to ban transgender girls from competing in women’s sports. Trump then signed an executive order on Wednesday banning transgender women from competing in female categories of sport. This ban extends to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
In fairness, nothing was being done by either of the previous administrations and biological females were being beaten on the tracks in the pools and the boxing rings. We saw it on display in Paris.
There is nothing subtle about this man.
While the 78-year-old, 47th president of the US has signed a staggering number of executive orders, much is being made in the media of his desire to take over Canada, Panama, Greenland, and other sovereign nations. Also, his threats of tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico among others. Allegedly, the tariff bluster is partially hot air, used as a tool to affect negotiation with those territories, influence the stock market, and most importantly, bring down the apparent over-valuation of the US dollar.
Purchasing power.
And his take on Gaza is confusing.
Dirty fentanyl
As nothing has been done about dirty fentanyl coming into Canada, and the US, allegedly (mostly) from Mexico and China, there is something admirable about the sledgehammer, here. But plug your nose and close your eyes, as Trump makes enemies around the world.
Ending the toxic drug crisis would be a coup to hang one’s reputation on. Perhaps the deaths of the tens of thousands affected by the toxic drug crisis require the sledgehammer. The flow of dirty drugs needs to stop. Likely, Trump is repeatedly throwing the baby out with the bathwater each time he runs that pen over the signature line on another executive order.
Trump also reversed the rationale about gender diversity with the executive order, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
Well, at least the information is made public.
Titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” the order mandates immediate enforcement, including against schools and athletic associations that “deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms,” according to the document, and will direct state attorneys general to identify best practices for enforcing the mandate.
“Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat our women and our girls,” said Trump.
Athletes with DSD
Of all the horrible things that emerged from Pandora’s Box, the last one was hope.
All we can hope for is that someone surrounding Trump can make sense of what to do about DSD athletes. It is difficult to watch DSD athletes choose the female category because they are dominant against biological females. Shades of Canada’s Melissa Bishop-Nriagu finishing fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games behind three suspected athletes who live with DSD.
But, there should be a place for everybody.
That’s where the nuance comes in.
But, no administration to date has graced the category of biological females and DSD with the required touch of dignity. This will surely end the facade.
