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Very quickly after being sworn in as the 46 President of the United States, Joe Biden signed an executive order that effectively penalizes the growth and history of girl’s and women’s sports.

I will argue that it’s the death penalty because it has the possibility to erase all progress in girls’ sports by simply allowing males to take hormone shots to qualify for competition.

CHS high school senior Chelsey Large said this about the issue, “I’m a senior at CHS and I do not agree with it. There are obviously many factors that differentiate men and women, one of which being the various chemicals produced between both. In MY opinion, although transgenders take either testosterone or estrogen to become their desired gender, it does not change that it was once a man. Males have different abilities than women do and vice-versa. These abilities would easily be able to cause a problem during a sporting event with a transgender on the female team.”

Hannah Fugate is a multi-sport athlete at CHS and she also has thoughts concerning the matter,  “I personally do not think it is fair to allow whoever identifies as a girl to play high school girls sports. I’ve heard many jokes from boys in our school about how they could play on the girl’s team if they wanted to and it’s unfortunate that their jokes are reality. We female student-athletes work just as hard in our respective sports as the males do in theirs but physically we are just made differently. It is unfair to open the opportunities we have worked so hard to make for ourselves to the other gender, due solely to our chemical makeup. Political opinions totally removed, it scares me that my playing time and entire high school basketball career could be jeopardized by the addition of (natural) boys to my team or a team on another side.”

The argument seems to be around fairness and level playing fields; however, some think inclusion is more important.

Cumberland Gap senior cheerleader Jenna Barnes looks at it this way, “I think that being accepting and supportive is a huge part of any female sports team. If somebody, transgender or not, wants to join a sports team, there should be no discrimination whatsoever. No matter the circumstance. Teaching and coaching love, acceptance, and duration should be any coach’s priority, period.”

However, Claiborne Lady Bulldog Jordan Fultz spoke about the difference between gender and sex, “There is a major difference between gender and sex. You can change your gender but you can’t change your sex. It would not be fair or right to put boys “transgenders” on a girl’s basketball team because guys are naturally built differently with different physical advantages. They are naturally stronger and faster than girls so having a guy on an-all girls team would give him an advantage over the other team members. Doing this would also drastically alter girls’ sports as a whole in the future. Girls’ sports could then be run by men and give them the dominance over both women and men’s sports.”

Another issue is a big one, the locker room. If a transgender athlete is allowed on a specific team the schools would certainly have to make special arrangements for the athlete that might include building separate changing areas or limiting access at certain times. The locker room is a special place for athletes and there will be less cohesiveness when forcing a transgender allowed policy inside.

Parents are mostly against this idea because of the locker room and restroom access. Many said they would have a hard time with this and might pull a student-athlete out of the sport. In fact, many athletes feel the same.

Emma Nole said this, “I would quit the team before I had a guy in the locker room with me.”

Many others feel the same way and would simply choose not to play which cancels out the good that sport provides.

Girls’ and women’s sports have come so very far. There are women’s pro leagues forming every day from basketball to even hockey.

There is a place for biological men to compete with women but it’s not directly with biological females. The same goes for girls wanting to compete in boys’ sports at this level.

I can see a day where coed sports becomes a reality but for now, it’s imperative that boys and girls high school and middle school sports remain just that, boys and girls.

We certainly don’t need to start erasing so much history these girls have worked so hard to create over the last several decades. There may be a way to do this but a good plan has not yet been provided.