Rahsaan Yearwood needs his head read. He’s the father of a once-son who expresses himself as a daughter. The son’s name is now Andraya. He’s got a bit of a mustache, is well built, admits he often wins in track while identifying as a male, and now thinks he’s a female. So he/she is now the best girl track star at Cromwell High School. It’s in Connecticut and its second place finisher in the 100, Kate Hall, who won this event last year, has learned 2 things in her short tenure on earth. 1) Boys can race as girls without undergoing hormonal transplants and/or surgeries and 2) Speak softly to mask your true feelings at such a crazy thing being allowed to happen: “It’s frustrating, but that’s just the way it is now.”
Back to dad. He says (paraphrasing) we are born into a body, we are born into a situation...but we grow into a person we’re going to be (hardly profound thoughts for a math teacher) and when people ask me why is your daughter running with the girls – I answer - because she’s my daughter. As for fairness? He says he doesn’t think of it. How dandy for dad.
Brian Calhoun, the track coach at Cromwell, plays small ball, gushing: “I have a spectacular female athlete, there’s nothing more to say.” Really? Don’t you have a guy who identifies as a girl – but is a guy in physique, running with the girls? He then contradicts himself and goes on to say more. Basically he doesn’t want anyone to take issue with his stance that this situation is perfectly just. He doesn’t want this situation approached in any other way – for that could create an issue or a conversation...and he avers there really is no issue, nor conversation to be had – other than getting Andraya to improve her running times and finishes.
So he wants to preclude large-picture eyes-wide-open contrary views as he myopically and proudly proclaims “we have a great athlete...”
Where does mom, Ngozi Nnaji, fit into all of this? Well, she wants to lash out at comments she doesn’t like...and she says the love she has for her child is unconditional. The latter seems noble but overlooks the travesty of having a girl in a boy’s biological body winning races against girls with girl bodies. It’s not fair. Anybody with half a brain can see that. Ngozi adds: there’s no judgment. Too bad for mom, for what Andraya is foisting is a farce.
Yes, mom casting no judgment is crazy. Tolerance for the intolerable is not tolerance, it is submission, surrender. Instead of parenting she’s a passenger, a passerby, a patron, a potted palm, not willing to instill values of what is right or wrong but is, instead, willing to let the chips fall where they may and is willing to let the train crash without doing anything to stop it. “She can be whoever she wants to be...” (One wonders if mom would accept Andraya if he/she goes all genderfluidy and decides she’s a guy again?)
For Kate Hall, who may have aspired to a college or university scholarship – if she is now overlooked – would this not be a travesty? And how does she feel Cromwell’s motto:
“Placing Students First”
corresponds with her situation? She’s not first. She was beaten by Andraya, a transgender athlete – where transgender means in his/her case...what? If one feels like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole, in matters of sexual orientation and gender identity – but hasn’t yet taken concrete steps to change one’s sex to the gender they identify with, isn’t that just so much posing?
Andraya says she’s used to winning. So victories started when she was a he. So why not really go for the gusto? Announce you’re a girl – and race against boys? Show the world that girls (albeit still in boys’ bodies) can beat boys in the sprints. Wouldn’t that be something? Wouldn’t that be a lot more impressive and courageous than running against girls with a boy’s physical attributes?
In fairness, Andraya, like many young women, is soft spoken, wear her hair long, and is inclusive – hoping her story inspires others. But boy oh boy, her shoulders are ripped – and will remain that way until she begins hormonal treatments.
Apparently a revelation occurred back in grade 1 or grade 2 (she’s not sure which) when the then tyke wore a Cinderella dress on Halloween – to Andraya that was the start of her realizing that she might be entombed in the wrong gender. But could it not have been just another example of a boy being a boy and doing a silly thing to attract attention, shock friends and freak out the folks? Another sign that something was amiss for Andraya was when, in grade 5, she wore pink and purple colored furry boots to school.
Dad, mom, and the track coach are all conveniently overlooking the elephant in the room. Andraya has a huge advantage in track events like the 100 and 200 because she’s got a boy’s musculature and power with a testosterone kick. As a freshman, (“freshman” will definitely have to be carted out to the woodshed and horsewhipped into a more pc word), Andraya may be a good girl, but she isn’t, or wasn’t, the best girl. In the Connecticut outdoor All-State Championship she came 3rd in a time of 12.41 seconds in the 100 meter dash. (Shanea Calhoun has the best State time of 11.82 set back in 2004.)
So dad and mom exude insouciance about the guy who thinks he’s a gal while the track coach exudes ebullience. Many of us exude penitence, realizing our vexations about this story have us, seemingly, sadly, and astoundingly, hopelessly wrong - based on the new "rules" and "mores" of what’s allowed in gender definitions this day and age.
Definitely we who disagree, need our heads read.
Back to dad. He says (paraphrasing) we are born into a body, we are born into a situation...but we grow into a person we’re going to be (hardly profound thoughts for a math teacher) and when people ask me why is your daughter running with the girls – I answer - because she’s my daughter. As for fairness? He says he doesn’t think of it. How dandy for dad.
Brian Calhoun, the track coach at Cromwell, plays small ball, gushing: “I have a spectacular female athlete, there’s nothing more to say.” Really? Don’t you have a guy who identifies as a girl – but is a guy in physique, running with the girls? He then contradicts himself and goes on to say more. Basically he doesn’t want anyone to take issue with his stance that this situation is perfectly just. He doesn’t want this situation approached in any other way – for that could create an issue or a conversation...and he avers there really is no issue, nor conversation to be had – other than getting Andraya to improve her running times and finishes.
So he wants to preclude large-picture eyes-wide-open contrary views as he myopically and proudly proclaims “we have a great athlete...”
Where does mom, Ngozi Nnaji, fit into all of this? Well, she wants to lash out at comments she doesn’t like...and she says the love she has for her child is unconditional. The latter seems noble but overlooks the travesty of having a girl in a boy’s biological body winning races against girls with girl bodies. It’s not fair. Anybody with half a brain can see that. Ngozi adds: there’s no judgment. Too bad for mom, for what Andraya is foisting is a farce.
Yes, mom casting no judgment is crazy. Tolerance for the intolerable is not tolerance, it is submission, surrender. Instead of parenting she’s a passenger, a passerby, a patron, a potted palm, not willing to instill values of what is right or wrong but is, instead, willing to let the chips fall where they may and is willing to let the train crash without doing anything to stop it. “She can be whoever she wants to be...” (One wonders if mom would accept Andraya if he/she goes all genderfluidy and decides she’s a guy again?)
For Kate Hall, who may have aspired to a college or university scholarship – if she is now overlooked – would this not be a travesty? And how does she feel Cromwell’s motto:
“Placing Students First”
corresponds with her situation? She’s not first. She was beaten by Andraya, a transgender athlete – where transgender means in his/her case...what? If one feels like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole, in matters of sexual orientation and gender identity – but hasn’t yet taken concrete steps to change one’s sex to the gender they identify with, isn’t that just so much posing?
Andraya says she’s used to winning. So victories started when she was a he. So why not really go for the gusto? Announce you’re a girl – and race against boys? Show the world that girls (albeit still in boys’ bodies) can beat boys in the sprints. Wouldn’t that be something? Wouldn’t that be a lot more impressive and courageous than running against girls with a boy’s physical attributes?
In fairness, Andraya, like many young women, is soft spoken, wear her hair long, and is inclusive – hoping her story inspires others. But boy oh boy, her shoulders are ripped – and will remain that way until she begins hormonal treatments.
Apparently a revelation occurred back in grade 1 or grade 2 (she’s not sure which) when the then tyke wore a Cinderella dress on Halloween – to Andraya that was the start of her realizing that she might be entombed in the wrong gender. But could it not have been just another example of a boy being a boy and doing a silly thing to attract attention, shock friends and freak out the folks? Another sign that something was amiss for Andraya was when, in grade 5, she wore pink and purple colored furry boots to school.
Dad, mom, and the track coach are all conveniently overlooking the elephant in the room. Andraya has a huge advantage in track events like the 100 and 200 because she’s got a boy’s musculature and power with a testosterone kick. As a freshman, (“freshman” will definitely have to be carted out to the woodshed and horsewhipped into a more pc word), Andraya may be a good girl, but she isn’t, or wasn’t, the best girl. In the Connecticut outdoor All-State Championship she came 3rd in a time of 12.41 seconds in the 100 meter dash. (Shanea Calhoun has the best State time of 11.82 set back in 2004.)
So dad and mom exude insouciance about the guy who thinks he’s a gal while the track coach exudes ebullience. Many of us exude penitence, realizing our vexations about this story have us, seemingly, sadly, and astoundingly, hopelessly wrong - based on the new "rules" and "mores" of what’s allowed in gender definitions this day and age.
Definitely we who disagree, need our heads read.