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Graham Platner welcomes attacks from 'fascists and bigots' over his support for trans rights
(www.advocate.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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politics
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Bro literally who cares about sports? They're games, why do we have to keep pretending that they're so important society balances upon them? Jesus Christ just let whoever wants to play the dumb game play the dumb game and stop making me hear about it
You have been brain washed by the dumbest people in your country. This isn't a real problem. Its an imaginary morass of hate you are too gullible to pull yourself out of.
Woof woof. Bow-wow.
I'm not sure which is worse. The naked TERF language or the very weird explicit omission of the opposite case.
Even if trans athletes do have an advantage over cis athletes, why is it the job of politicians to regulate that? There are athletic leagues at every academic level who are supposed to determine what constitutes fair competition and regulate their programs accordingly. Why should federal legislators, who have less expertise than these organizations, be writing their rules for them?
There is no expertise in knowing that boys are stronger than girls. The purpose of legislation is to prevent girls from getting injured and protect girls' sports. Boys who are transgender breaking girls' records would ruin the sport.
Oh, so now it's a safety issue? Alright, well then how far do we take this? Should children be segregated by gender in case the boys accidentally hurt the girls during recess? Should including girls in a pickup game of basketball be considered reckless endangerment? I mean, if professional and academic sports organizations can't be trusted to make these decisions,.why should we trust educators or parents?
As for breaking records, well, if trans girls/women have such a huge advantage (and what little evidence we do have on the subject indicates they don't), again, why is that the government's job to regulate that instead of the athletic institutions? Why do you want the government dictating the rules surrounding this? You know, some schools let upperclassmen playi on the junior varsity team. Should the government be regulating that as well?
It comes down to this; if you trust these athletic institutions to make all of these other determinations about fairness and safety, but feel the government needs to mandate their decisions on trans athletes, it doesn't seem like your issue is fairness and safety. It seems like it's trans people.
No, it's fairness. Women competing against men who are transgender is like women competing against women who use steroids.
Which is why black women are famously segregated to the black-only events.
You know, since they have naturally higher testosterone levels than white women.
And why the Danes are segregated to the Nordic-only events. What with the average height of women in Finland being 6 feet and all.
It's only fair.
Racial differences are not as great as gender differences.
Still side-stepping the question. I couldn't possibly care less about what you think is or isn't fair. Why is it so important to you that the Democrats adopt this position? Why should the federal government be regulating this at all? Why not trust athletic associations, who's entire purpose is to facilitate fair competitions for their teams and players, to make this determination on their own?
Democrats want to adopt positions that they can win on. It's better to have uniform laws since teams from different schools compete against each other.
What evidence do you have, beyond your personal biases, that, "we are going supersede the judgement of independent organizations in order to dictate policies on trans athletes to them," is a winning position?
Athletic leagues don't operate on a school-by-school basis. There are county, state, and national leagues that are already setting the rules by which schools compete. The NFHS and NCAA, for example, already made the, "uniform laws," you want. Both organizations have already been forced to change their rules on trans athletes in certain states to accommodate anti-trans legislation, and the NCAA changed their national rules to comply with a (probably unlawful) executive order.
This is what's so infuriating about your position. You act as though you're just asking for the government to make rules for everyone to follow, but you're actually asking for the government to overrule the rules you don't like.
Every male athlete should be put on estrogen if they want to play co-ed sports. Out of... UwU... fairness.
Tennis mixed doubles. Rec League volleyball. All of it.
In fact, I think we should require everyone in the NFL to be on estrogen, just in case someone snuck in.
No, there are events such as the Olympic mixed relay which deliberately mix men and women.
That pool should be filled with estrogen to make it fair.
I agree with the idea but it should be up to the institutions to decide, not the federal or state government. I'm sure it would be a contentious issue as some schools would allow it while others wouldn't. But let those institutions spend time and money figuring it out, not the government.
The only argument they have is that we need to "protect biological females" but even that is performative bull shit since the right doesn't actually care about women like that. The same way they are "pro-life" until the baby is actually born and they strip any kind of welfare benefits or school lunch programs.
Politicians love this shit cuz they don't have to address actual issues like affordability or taxes etc.
You're right, transmen shouldn't play in women's sports. They should play in men's sports.
Who in their right mind would let this guy compete in women's wrestling?
Ken Paxton, apparently.
Well, according to this headline, you're welcome to attack Platner over it.
Really focusing on the important issues there aren't you buddy.
Other issues such as the economy are more important but Republicans will certainly bring up the issue of trans right.
Who gives a fuck? In 45 years of my life the only issues they have every brought up are red like them. Specifically, red herrings. Repulicunts can be ignored as the lying traitors they are.
...and?
In the year of our lord sweet baby Jesus fucking Christ two thousand and twenty six, how is sport your biggest political concern?
It's sufficiently important that Republicans bring it up.
"The Jewish problem is sufficiently important that Nazis bring it up."
Candidates do not just talk about a few issues. A low-priority issue might be sufficient to sway some voters.
It's sufficiently engagement bait for their voters, you mean.
Oh right, they only bring important matters to the American people. Like snowballs brought in during climate discussions, that was sufficiently important.
So you're a Republican?
No. I'm warning Democrats will give Republicans an issue if they are in favor of men who are transgender competing in women sports.
There are like 10 trans athletes in the u.s.
Most are in sports that wouldn't be dependent on gender. Like billiards. Archery.
Also I saw recently a bonafide xx chromosome woman beat all the men in a strong competition.
Something a lot of people don't know is that trans women often have partial bottom surgery. Removal of testicles. And they take female hormones.
They might have male bone structure but they no longer get the male hormones that increase their muscle mass.
I acknowledge it's a complex issue with different arguments to be had.
But it's really important to note this is literally a handful of people. A handful.
And it's not like trans women are beating the cis women at everything.
They aren't.
There doesn't really seem to be any advantage beyond what a cis woman with good athletic genes also has.
Most trans women aren't athletic. So it's not even that they all have this matched advantage.
Just some
Just like how some women have it.
It's not really predicted by being trans, is my point.
Archery requires arm strength which gives the advantage to males. Sports which are seemingly not dependent on gender might be. Note that most chess players are male.
There exists XX male syndrome. Such a person is not really female.
Even if trans women athletes take female hormones, she would still have an advantage over biological women. Male hips are small in relation to their shoulders whereas female hips are wide. This gives males an advantage in running since their hands can efficiently move up and down.
We are only discussing males who are transgender competing in female sports not other trans rights.
Accuracy of archery isn't as dependent on arm strength beyond what a trained woman can provide.
Sure some sports like running should be separated.
But it's not that many. We can look at scores to determine which sports actually need separated. Instead of assuming they need separated.
Even billiards and golf is separated. For no biology reason.
Most separation came about because men wouldn't allow women into their sports so women formed their own.
Chess, like many male-centric activities has historically excluded women. This is why women are in lower numbers for many professions and hobbies. They arent welcome. The men are hostile to them. It's not easy to stay in a hobby/profession where you aren't respected and everyone gives you the cold shoulder.
The fact that biological women can and do perform at mens levels proves it's a social exclusion, not a biological one.
It's kind of why men are lower in numbers in women's hobbies/professions. Except that it isn't necessary exclusion by women but mocking by other men and having their masculinity challenged.
There are plenty of men who are great at sewing, design, cooking, and even child rearing who are cis hetero men. Only in the last 15 or 20 years has it became more acceptable for men to have baking as a hobby. Before then, cooking was women's work. Most men could barely use a microwave and would brag at their incompetence in the kitchen as an indicator of their masculinity.
I know it all gets so old so fast but these things still occur. Think of all the men who might be amazing seamstress or clothing designers. Or maybe could come up with new tasty foods to eat. Yet our society says they aren't real men if they venture out into these areas. And often they are mockes mostly by other men but even women are part of the problem and are known to mock men or ask them "are you gay or something?" When they tell you they love knitting in their free time.
How is knitting related to sexual preferences? I don't know but many people seem to think it is.
These gender role trends take a long time to change. And take specific interventions to change them. They don't change on their own.
Gordon Ramsey probably had a big role in changing the baking one. As crazy as that sounds. ( And other male chiefs and cooks on TV. )
Yeah your point about genetics proves my point.
Genetic Sex isn't binary in the first place.
That's why trying to make hard rules based on chromosomes or what genital parts are visible is invalid.
It's important to remember that all these activities we say are "for men" or "for women". Were invented long long after sexes existed and even 40,000-50,000 years or more after humans evolved into who we are today.
(estimate based on unknown age of humans).
I mean chess. Making clothes. Knitting. Archery even.
How could humans possibly evolve so that one sex is good at those things and the other isn't. ?
That's just silly. It's much more likely we are all cognitively capable and have similar dexterity with variations in genetics accounting for differences between individuals. Not between sexes.
Obviously some physical strength differences. Men have upper body strength and women have lower body for carrying babies.
But that's almost all of the difference there is. Just those related to reproduction.
From https://splicedonline.com/do-you-need-to-be-strong-to-be-an-archer/
Archers need to generate enough strength to draw back the string and hold it in position for a sufficient amount of time to take aim and release the arrow. The amount of strength required varies depending on the individual and the type of bow being used, but most archers require a combination of strength, power, and control to effectively utilize their equipment.
Some psychologists believe that males dominate in chess because they have superior spatial relationship than women.
I never said you don't need to be strong. I said women athletes are more than capable of archery. They are. They even currently compete.
The spatial thing is a myth and does not hold up when tested better.
However. Men typically have faster reflexes by like 50 ms. Its not a lot but it's consistent.
There is something important to note about xy abilities.
Men have a flatter and wider bell curve for pretty much any trait. What this means is that most women ( traits ) score close to the mean compared to men's. (For a given trait).
You often hear "men have higher iqs". Well they dont but there are more men who have high iqs than women. But. There are also more men with the lowest iqs. (Though you dont hear people bringing that up)
You get more top athletes. But also more men with incredibly poor physical condition.
Disorders are more prevalent and genetic errors related to that Y, but you also occasionally get a beneficial error.
So it's a trade off. A gamble. Being male might result in a little genetic bonus. But it's just as likely you get a handicap.
And this sort of thing is more than likely a product of the sex chromosomes for men being incomplete xx. So they have a greater chance for a non dominant gene on that Y chromosome to be expressed. It's why men are more prone to color blindness. It's carried on that chromosome. Women usually have a backup on the extra tail on the X that will overwrite the bad recessive one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variability_hypothesis
Even if men have higher variability, this is an irrelevant point for their ability to play most sports better than women.
Because there might be more athletic men. But there are comparable athletic women. It just means that it's more competition for mens teams because more potentials are available.
It doesn't mean they are better than the female team in ability. Though I acknowledge there are sports that should stay separated. Like track. Basketball.
It's like. Let's say 500 people in your city are doctors. Good doctors.
Let's say 40 people in my city are good doctors.
You can't say your doctors are better than mine just because you have more of them. They all went to med school and are board certified. The number for a given city is irrelevant.
An athlete will not be in poor health. Healthy men will perform better than healthy women in sports. Consequently, it's better to separate them.
Good thing they don't then
Glad to see your electoral priorities are straight.../s what does this have to do with anything? Also no, sports are not based on anything to do with build or physique 😂
Sports is based on physique. That's the reason in boxing there are weight classes. Trans rights are not a priority issue but an issue that Republicans will certainly bring up.