Issue: Sex + Gender

March was Women’s History Month, but a quick perusal through Governor Katie Hobbs’ social media shows no mention of it.

Crickets.

I can only assume she was avoiding the backlash because she knows how the majority of Arizona voters feel about matters such as Women’s History Month.

It’s for women.

So much for being the party of women’s rights. Gov. Hobbs, a female governor, made it clear this week that she refuses to stand with women and, in doing so, she refuses to stand with Arizona voters.

Gov. Hobbs had a second chance to preserve women’s rights this year, but she vetoed HB2062, Arizona’s Stand With Women Act, an act that would have codified the original meaning of basic sex-based words like ‘woman’ and ‘female’ in order to ensure that women’s rights aren’t compromised by judicial activism and bureaucrats. It would have given power back to our elected representatives to decide how, and in which contexts, it is appropriate to separate citizens by sex.

Words matter. We can’t protect women if we can’t define ‘woman.’ I have a vested interest in making sure we do. I am a mother. I have two daughters. My first granddaughter is on the way. I am president of a public K-8 charter school where young girls come to learn.

Mother, daughter, granddaughter, grandmother, aunt, sister, girls … all words that will become meaningless if we don’t fight to stop our erasure. Activists say these words lack objective meaning. They say these words are defined by subjective feelings, rather than objective reality. The efforts of these activists to legally eradicate the difference between the sexes fundamentally erase women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being. Men and women are legally equal, but biologically different and as such should have a legal right to single-sex spaces. 86% of Americans (and even 83% of Democrats) agree. Gov. Hobbs is out of touch with the public and even those of her own party.

What about publicly collected data regarding males and females? Shouldn’t vital statistics—including statistics about matters such as violence against women—reflect biological truth? Imagine a world where all data used to promote public health, prevent crime, enforce civil rights laws, and ensure economic and social policy was subjective!

Most of the public focus on this issue has been on fairness in women’s sports, but this goes far beyond sports. Only two states—and not Arizona—ensure women’s prisons are only for women. In many states, men identifying as women, many of whom are violent sexual predators, have been transferred into women’s prisons. Unfortunately, many female inmates have already suffered physical and psychological damage as a result. This is why  91% of Americans, even 88% of Democrats, support single-sex prisons.

Women, including sexual assault survivors, are being told not to complain about having men undress next to them in their private spaces such as locker rooms. Men are invading female sororities, domestic violence shelters, and educational training programs that were created specifically to encourage women’s engagement.

What kind of a world are we setting up for the next generation if we close our eyes to this? My challenge to all Arizonans is this: make some serious noise and do not let up! Educate everyone you meet on what Gov. Hobbs has done to disadvantage women and take away our right to equal opportunity. Talk about this at church, at the gym, and yes, even in the workplace. I am convinced that once Arizonans understand the dangerous impact of this veto, they will have found their line in the sand and have the courage to do something about it.

Megan Burke is a two-time NCAA champion runner from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, as well as an American record holder in the distance medley relay. She also leads the Denver, CO, chapter of Independent Women’s Network. This piece originally appeared in The Rocky Mountain Voice.

Have you heard that Denver is welcoming a women’s professional soccer team and is hoping to build a new women’s soccer stadium? Wow, Colorado must be very supportive of women’s sports, right? 

Unfortunately, our leaders will try to sell you on this notion while they have done nothing in this state to protect women’s sports. 

In recent years, the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports has become a highly debated issue across the United States, and Denver is no exception. While the city champions itself as progressive and inclusive, it does nothing to protect the integrity and fairness of women’s sports. 

In the name of inclusion, we are excluding women and girls from their very own category. Colorado has passed ZERO laws to protect women’s and girls’ sports/spaces. 

In fact, not only have they not passed any, they are constantly voting against them…leaving our girls vulnerable. Vulnerable to losing a spot on the team or podium. Vulnerable to competing against men who have performance advantages due to biological factors like larger hearts, lungs, greater muscle mass, and higher testosterone levels—factors that lead to differences in speed, strength, and endurance. 

Women and girls are also more vulnerable to injury, as men are typically reported to have about 40–75% more muscle strength than women, according to the National Library of Medicine. Vulnerable to having to change in a locker room with a male, and vulnerable to not even wanting to play sports at all because of the above reasons.

According to a Gallup poll, 69% of Americans agree that men have no place in women’s sports. But just two weeks ago both of our Colorado Senators had a chance to protect Colorado girls by voting yes on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Both Senators voted it down. 

Senator Bennett, who has three daughters of his own, decided our daughters aren’t important enough to protect in sports. We should remind Mr. Bennett of all the wonderful things athletics bring to young women. For example, women who participate in sports tend to have a more positive body image and higher self-esteem compared to those who do not. 

And to Senator Hickenlooper, who sent me an email telling me we should be more worried about trans athletes being physically harmed, I would ask him this: what about our girls being harmed and injured from boys/men in their very own category? 

Take Payton McNabb from North Carolina, who was spiked in the face and knocked out cold, suffering permanent brain injuries caused by a male athlete playing on a girls’ high school volleyball team. That damage is done by allowing just one male into our sports.

Then there is the issue of the locker room, where our weak laws are allowing girls’ private spaces to disappear altogether. 

East High School in Denver, which educates over 2,500 students, offers a troubling example. During Christmas break, East High School changed the girls’ bathroom on the second floor to an all-gender bathroom, but the boys’ bathroom remained the same. That means a 14-year-old girl is potentially forced to share a bathroom with an 18-year-old boy in one of the biggest public schools in our state. 

Taking away young women’s private spaces is unacceptable, but with our current leaders and laws, nothing will be done to reverse this. 

Even our youth sports in Colorado are being attacked with our pro-gender affirming laws and anti-protection of women’s sports/spaces. The Colorado Rapids Soccer club, one of the largest soccer clubs in the state, notes on its website that athletes can register on the team in which they “identify.” 

Our oldest daughter played against two boys when she was only seven years old in GIRLS 7U soccer. This was not a co-ed league, either. 

So while Colorado and our politicians will take credit for this monumental occasion of getting a female soccer team and a stadium, do not forget – they have done nothing to protect the very sport category they pretend to support!