Readers Write: Transgender athletes in girls’ sports, that Qatari plane, Memorial Day

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Huge respect is due to the young women who are suing to protect women’s sports (“Athletes sue Ellison, state leaders,” May 21). Their courage is sorely needed.

Males are participating in women’s sports in growing numbers. The website “He Cheated” documents the times males have set records, stole medals, won award money and taken positions on national teams in female sports. In 2015, the website counted 169 times when men or boys took first, second or third place (i.e., a top-three finish) in women’s athletic competitions. By 2024, the number of top-three finishes by male athletes in women’s sports was 1,033, a 511% increase over 2015 and an alarming trend line. Sisters, we have a problem.

Attorney General Keith Ellison and state Rep. Leigh Finke incorrectly assert that banning males from women’s sports will mean that trans-identified males will not be able to participate in sports. Trans-identified males would be able to participate in sports under a ban, but participation would be based on sex, not gender.

Sex is not the only determinate of how one participates in sports. For example, there are also age classifications and weight classifications. We do not let 16-year-olds participate with 10-year-olds. It does not matter if the 16-year-old looks and acts like a 10-year-old, whether the 16-year-old’s abilities are closer to that of a 10-year-old or whether the 16-year-old is being mistreated by other 16-year-olds. If trans-identified males are experiencing threats and harassment on male teams, the solution is to hold the perpetrators accountable not to bully women into giving up their hard-won opportunities. Ellison, Finke and the Minnesota State High School League are taking the easy way out by punching down on women rather than addressing the real problem.

Thank you to the brave women athletes who are speaking up and fighting back! Women did not win their rights by being nice. They will not keep their rights by being nice.

Sue Illg, St. Paul

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Oh boy, here we go. Girls competing in a sport want to sue the state because they feel it is unfair for them to have to play against a person on a team who is transgender. I don’t know the specifics of this particular lawsuit, but I can remember many instances during my coaching years in high school soccer and track and field where my athletes were competing against someone who made them feel disadvantaged. Part of coaching is teaching your athletes how to prepare and compete. The opponent may be bigger, faster, older, better trained, more experienced ... and maybe even have better uniforms (I’m joking, we had the best uniforms). I guess I was never concerned about the fairness of it all because I never assumed that was part of why we offered sport and why I coached. The philosophy we had was that athletics in school were offered to teach young people teamwork, the rules and nuances of a specific sport and how to train their body and mind for physical activity, whatever that might be in the future.

Fairness on the playing field is a pretty elusive thing to capture; good luck. I’ll bet you won’t see any athletes suing the state because they had an unfair advantage over another athlete.

Alan Briesemeister, Delano

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As I read the article about the lawsuit regarding transgender participation in athletics, a question crossed my mind. The focus of this suit, and everything else I have read or heard on this topic, is always about the unfairness of once-male-now-female athletes being allowed to participate in female sports. The contention is that athletes should only be permitted to participate in sports with the sex they are assigned at birth. Some females want formerly male athletes banned from female sports because their birth sex was male. That raises the question: Are they then OK with formerly-female-now-male athletes participating in female athletic activities? I suspect not, but that seems a bit like a double standard. Just saying.

Larry Wickstrom, Apple Valley

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I read the comments of readers regarding transgender athletes. One reader suggested there was no scientific evidence to show transgender women had an advantage.

It would be interesting to see the statistics of the transgender women that win events compared to the total number of female athletes they compete against. This would be a more compelling statistic.

Bill Bunce, White Bear Lake

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Responding to some of Ellison’s comments: First, Ellison will “continue to defend the rights of all students to play sports with their friends and peers.” Male-at-birth (physically male) athletes are not “peers” of female athletes. Second, Ellison states, “I believe it is wrong to single out one group of students ... because of who they are.” Girls’ athletics already singles out one group, the “males” group, due to fundamental gender strength and size differences. If one male-at-birth person is allowed on a girls’ team, what will happen if there are more on the same team? Consider a softball team of four, five, up to nine transgender (male-at-birth) persons, or a more physically rough hockey team. What then? I truly feel for all transgender persons, and am sorry about this, but I agree with the concerns of the girls.

Peter Berglund, St. Paul

No. Just no. How can our government accept a jet from the Qatari government? (“Pentagon accepts luxury jet from Qatar for use as Air Force One,” May 22.) Have we crossed a line yet, Congress? Will you continue to abrogate your duty as a coequal branch of the government or will you stand up and say “no”? If you are concerned about foreign influence of our government, you are duty-bound to stop this madness. I am done with this corruption. After you supported all of the hearings on the Clintons and the Bidens, if you are a member of the Republican Party and you stand by and allow this to happen, you are a hypocrite. If you are OK with Trump doing this, you are OK with a Democrat doing this. I am not OK with anyone doing this, and you shouldn’t be, either.

Gather your courage and say “no.” Stop this madness before it gets even worse. The amount of grift I have seen in the last four months is staggering. Please stop it! Those of us who still believe in democracy and the rule of law are begging you. Otherwise, you have no one else to blame when we lose our democracy. Do better; we are all watching!

Mark Duffy, Champlin

Memorial Day is fast approaching as we are reminded by the Memorial Day retail sales and all sorts of plans and suggestions about how to enjoy the weekend. Please take a few minutes to think about the reason Memorial Day was started and who we honor. Better yet, here are a couple things you can do that are free: Take some time to drive through the Fort Snelling National Cemetery and pause to think of the thousands of men and women interred there. Some died in battle, thousands more spent years serving their country. Also take 90 minutes out of your weekend to watch the National Memorial Day program Sunday night on PBS — that would be time well spent.

Bruce Holmberg, Rush City, Minn.