[1]
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman sent a letter [2] to the NCAA urging them to restore all awards to female athletes who lost due to the inclusion of male athletes in sporting competitions. Earlier this year, the NCAA reversed [3] its 15-year policy of allowing men who identify as woman to complete, restricting competition for biological females.
This follows on the heels of President Trump’s executive order urging these transgender policies to be reversed and as sporting bodies around the world follow suit. Recently, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees similarly adopted [4] polices banning transgender athletes from competition. As have several organizations in the United Kingdom and around the world.
Coleman’s action is the right thing to do. It’s not enough to prevent hard-working female athletes from unfair competition against biological males, it is proper that those who previously lost medals and competitions to have their winnings restored. In Coleman’s state of Kentucky, famed swimmer Riley Gaines lost in the 2022 NCAA championships to Lia Thomas, a man identifying as a woman. This is what Scripture calls restitution, the righting of previous wrongs.
The attorney general framed his appeals to the NCAA in common sense terms. “This is very practical notion of males and females intermingling in the locker rooms, males and females intermingling in restrooms and training facilities. It prevents situations that could cause harm and could cause challenging situations and environments where these athletes need to be focused on competition, on improvement, on strategy, not on how they’re able to navigate a locker room with the opposite sex being present unclothed.”
He also stated that the goal is not to be mean to those who struggle with gender dysphoria, but to acknowledge biological realities and to protect women’s sports from unfair competition. He’s right. Basic science shows us what Scripture already revealed – that God, when He formed human beings, created them male and female with intentionality. Biological gender and biological sex are intertwined. We cannot simply create an identity at odds with the one given to us by God. What’s more, masculinity and femininity are not something to be escaped but embraced. God created men and women equal, but different, complementary and good. When society rebels against God’s design, it only leads to injustice and chaos in society.
Thankfully institutions like the NCAA seem to be stepping back from the insanity of the last few years, which saw major institutions in American life pretend that men can be women and women can be men. It does seem that American society is coming to grips with the law written on human hearts. According to recent polling data [5], a majority of Americans believe athletes should only be allowed to compete on teams that conform to their birth gender.
Yet even as we see the tide shift in our favor, Christians should continue to lovingly, but firmly communicate the goodness of God’s created order, not merely to win arguments, but because this is best for human flourishing.
Movements and trends in society come and go. We should speak truth, even when it goes against what is popular. We should love those who disagree with us, while pointing them to a Father who made them in His image and offers salvation freely through the gift of His Son.
In every age, Christianity confronts false idols and false ideas. We are called to embrace this moment with truth, clarity and love. We’ve been placed here in this time and this place to bear witness to the Gospel.
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