If you were wondering when we crossed the line into irreversible insanity allow me to enlighten you. No, it was not on a legislature’s floor, the Oval Office, the dark recesses of the World Economic Forum, or the formerly hallowed halls of academia. Nope. It happened this weekend in Knoxville, Tenn., and you probably missed it.
To be honest, the shift to a world where words have no meaning and reality is whatever the loudest group says it is on any given day has been going on for some time now. Up until recently, much of the country has tried to content itself by participating in what is essentially a national hostage video repeating the state-sanctioned mantra to avoid whatever penalties may be enforced for the slightest dissent. At one point I thought that America’s Stockholm Syndrome might reach Patty Hearst levels of dysfunction. Despite the recent rejection of rainbows, Bud Light, and Target, the Left is tenacious and has a great long game. So as Yogi Berra famously said, “It’ ain’t over ’till it’s over.”
I’m starting to think it will never be over.
Austin Killips is a professional cyclist. He is also a man who identifies as a woman. I am not going to play the pronoun shuffle. By the time I am finished writing this, Killips may be identifying as a man again, or something entirely different. And in part, I really don’t care. I’m getting too old for these games. Besides, I didn’t even know that cisgender was a slur until Elon Musk made his decree. Language has become so malleable that if you say something wrong, just hang on long enough, you might be right again eventually. Well, maybe.
Killips was in Knoxville over the weekend competing as a woman in the USA Cycling Pro Road championships. He finished ninth in the Women’s Elite Pro Road. Apparently, somewhere around the last leg, he ran into a clutch of protestors. Killips told the Knoxville News Sentinel:
I feel like the toolbox I’ve had has felt a little shallow with sort of current state of things. There are just certain things that will forever remain out of my control, and you just have to make peace with that reality. It can be difficult and frustrating at times, but at the end of the day, just trying to imbue the experiences and moments that bring you joy and holding on to those.
It’s certainly concerning that the nature of the discourse, the amount of energy that has gone into building this narrative would lead you to believe that there’s this massive number of trans athletes participating in sports and winning all the time, when the reality is that we’re statistically underrepresented. By the number, some of us do well, a lot of us do just fine, are just normal competitors. If the rules say trans people can play, then it doesn’t mean that we can’t win.
Read that last paragraph again. Essentially the problem is that there aren’t enough men in women’s sports. I guess that it is not enough for Killips to participate as a woman; now there are too many natural women crowding the field. Heaven forfend that a woman should participate in women’s sports. And a woman who rejects the idea that she should be forced to compete against a man is accused of being a Terf or an attention-seeker.
Right-wing? I’d love to be interviewed by you, Nancy. Anytime! You know where to find me as does CNN, MSNBC, and every other left leaning outlet that has failed to reach out and consider the perspective of those who are actually impacted by this.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 22, 2023
At this point, we are all aware of the physical differences between men and women. That has been covered ad infinitum and even ad nauseam. And the fact that Killips finished ninth may be attributable to the fact that he only turned pro a year ago and is adjusting to a new level of competition. But that is not the point.
The reason why the people became willing to accept lesbians and gays was that they just wanted to be left alone. I’ve known gay and lesbian teachers and business owners who just wanted to “do their thing.” Back before being trans was the national fad, I encountered trans people who just did their shopping, banking, or whatever as the opposite sex. Their sexuality was not the center of their universes, and they did not expect anyone else to acquiesce.
“You do you” is a distant memory on the horizon behind us. We must now adjust and reshape every aspect of our lives to accommodate someone else’s choices. And no one, regardless of their gender has the right to demand that of the world. In the meantime, all you women athletes must make room for the men. There are too many of you to make the playing field even.