The Boston Globe asks, for reasons that escape me, whether Seth Moulton (Ostensible D-MA) is owed an apology for his support of banning trans people–trans women specifically–from competing in sports.

Nope. No. Not at all. Forget about it.

The mere fact that some other ostensible Democrats have chosen to join Moulton in being badly wrong doesn’t make him the victim of anything for which an apology is due. Moulton is joining a moral panic. Whether he’s doing this because he’s cynically trolling for votes or he sincerely believes in this nonsense is neither here nor there. He’s joining a moral panic, and that’s disgraceful.

Don’t believe it’s a moral panic? Okay. Ask yourself, for all the talk of trans women dominating women’s sports, where are the actual trans women dominating any women’s sport? Where is the trans Bo Jackson crushing it in basketball, softball, soccer, tennis, golf, flag football, fencing, track and field, boxing, MMA, or any other sport? Can you show me their highlight reel from ESPN? Have they been on Rich Eisen to discuss the secret of their greatness?

Please tell me. And let me know if you can hook me up with tickets, because I’d pay money to see the trans woman who routinely makes Caitlin Clark look like a chump. That sounds awesome.

The people like Moulton calling for these bans are worried about a problem that isn’t a problem. There are no trans women dominating any women’s sport, and even if there were some, as there may one day be, supreme athletic achievement isn’t a problem. It’s a thing you get cast in Gatorade commercials for.

Julia Serrano goes into further depth into what fears feed this panic and why they’re baseless. It’s definitely worth your time to delve. What I’ll add to it is how much the effect of this panic sucks. It’s not just about, or even primarily about, elite athletes, the 1% of the 1% who can actually play a sport well enough to participate in world-class leagues like the WNBA, the WTA, the NWSL, or any of the Olympic teams. It’s all about the ordinary players–the ones who, if they ever do appear in a highlight reel, will be there because an elite athlete ran them over in spectacular fashion. These are the vast majority of people who ever participate in sports. Why do they do it? For exercise, of course, but also for friendships, the fun of competition, the chance for recognition (and maybe a scholarship), slight profits or losses on side bets, letterman’s jackets they hope will still fit twenty years later, and a collection of boring stories about glory days.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/6vQpW9XRiyM?si=pe4-4rvFj1FghiXD

Kids want those kinds of experiences, even if they know they won’t lead anywhere professionally. Sports aren’t the only way to have them, of course, but for people who crave competition and physical challenge, it’s the kind they’d prefer. Depriving any group of people that wants those experiences means saying, “You don’t get to play our games. Our prizes aren’t for you. We don’t want you to be in our community at all, particularly in ways where there’s a danger you might be seen and admired.” It’s a dismal thing to say to people. It’s ugly that’s it’s become a popular thing to say. And Moulton et. al. should be ashamed of themselves for joining in.