Biological males competing in women’s sports has become a political and cultural loser, and not by a small margin. Most Americans have figured it out. But as usual, a handful of ideological celebrities and long-retired athletes are still clinging to the narrative, cheering from the sidelines while today’s female athletes pay the price.
The latest example comes from a new ACLU campaign defending transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports. The 30-second ad features actors Elliot Page and Naomi Watts, alongside former soccer star Megan Rapinoe and her girlfriend, retired WNBA legend Sue Bird. It’s a polished, emotional appeal — and a perfect illustration of elite virtue signaling, since none of these figures have anything at stake personally.
Rapinoe and Bird, both retired, already enjoyed the full benefits of women’s sports before this debate exploded. Now, safely removed from competition, they’re advocating policies that would deny the next generation of female athletes the same fair shot they had. Easy position to take when you’re done competing.
The ad suggests that separating sports by biological sex is an arbitrary injustice rather than the very foundation that allowed women’s athletics to exist in the first place. “When you’re young you believe you can do anything, and then the world tries to set limits for you,” the ad proclaims, framing biology as oppression rather than reality.
Rapinoe adds that on the field or court, “you get to be exactly who you are.” That sounds inspiring — until you remember why women’s sports were created in the first place.
Title IX, signed into law in 1972, mandated equal athletic opportunities for women and led to an explosion of female participation in sports. It worked precisely because it recognized biological differences between men and women. Without that distinction, women’s sports simply don’t survive.
That’s not theory — it’s fact. In 2017, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team lost 5–2 in a scrimmage against an under-15 boys’ club team from FC Dallas. Those same women went on to win the 2019 World Cup. The skill didn’t disappear. Biology never left.
Yet the ACLU, once a gold standard for civil liberties, is now heading to the Supreme Court to argue that gender identity — not biological sex — should determine sports participation. This is the same organization whose attorneys once defended free speech for the most repugnant groups imaginable because they believed liberty mattered more than ideology.
Today, some of those same leaders openly advocate banning books they disagree with, including Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage. That shift should concern anyone who cares about open debate, regardless of where they fall politically.
The most striking part of all this is how disconnected it is from public opinion. Fully 69% of Americans believe biological sex should determine sports participation — a number that’s grown significantly in just a few years. People aren’t confused. They’re tired of being told that obvious reality is somehow hateful.
None of this means denying respect, dignity, or opportunity to transgender individuals. Those values matter. But insisting that women’s sports must be sacrificed on the altar of ideology is a bridge too far — and Americans know it.
The good news? Common sense still has momentum. As more people speak up for fairness, reality, and women’s rights, the country continues moving toward solutions that protect everyone without pretending biology doesn’t exist.
