Transgender movement has become a war on women

Radical feminists have become among the most outspoken opponents of the transgender movement.

At issue currently is the so-called Equality Act, which all but one House Democrat is co-sponsoring. That list includes Nevada Reps. Steven Horsford, Susie Lee and Dina Titus. The bill would add a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to several statutes, including the Civil Rights Act.

“As a nation, we have long held that we cannot sit by and be tolerant of intolerance that is designed to demean and to exclude communities,” House Judiciary chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, said during a hearing on the bill earlier this month.

But it turns out, many feminists are OK with occasionally excluding a certain community — biological men.

In 1972, the federal government passed Title IX. It required schools receiving federal funds to offer girls equal access to activities, including sports. Just one in 27 girls in public school played a high school sport before Title IX. Now 40 percent do.

Notice how the meaning of the word “equality” has shifted. Under Title IX, equality means that boys and girls must each have athletic opportunities. Democrats now claim that equality means a boy has the right to compete against girls.

Imagine how this must make a feminist feel. You’ve spent decades fighting for robust opportunities for female athletes. Now, you’re told to let males participate. Some liberal women have had enough.

“You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women,” tennis great Martina Navratilova tweeted in December. “There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard.”

Supporters of H.R. 5 refuse to acknowledge that biological men have physical advantages over biological women. Amazing how some liberals are certain the world will end without reductions in carbon emissions, but they’re dubious that extra testosterone gives men athletic advantages.

Now, transgender activists are going further. They assert that men who identify as women are women and must be treated as such.

This idea isn’t great for biological women. In the United Kingdom, officials moved a convicted sex offender to female prison after he claimed to be transgender. He then sexually assaulted female prisoners.

“Her penis was erect and sticking out of the top of her trousers,” the prosecutor said while detailing one of the assaults in a way that requires an active ignorance of biology.

H.R. 5 would lead to that type of incoherence. No wonder feminists are speaking out.

Julia Beck, a reporter for the Women’s Liberation Front, testified in opposition to the bill. She said it would require female survivors of rape to share space with biological men in women’s shelters.

She’s no right-wing activist. The Women’s Liberation Front is a self-described “radical feminist organization dedicated to the total liberation of women.”

Last year, a biological male in Canada claiming to be a woman sued a Muslim woman working at a salon. Her crime? For religious reasons, she refused to remove hair from his private areas. He sought $50,000 in damages for “immense harm” to his dignity.

Insanity.

This bill — sponsored by over 230 Democrats — is a true war on women.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Listen to him discuss his columns each Monday at 9 a.m. with Kevin Wall on 790 Talk Now. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.