Gambling, often a vice, seems to be what the Democratic Party is playing at. This time, I fear for the sake of the republic that they are gambling with Marxian die. Rolling the dice, coming up with snake eyes — it hasn’t and won’t end well.
This time Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who apparently has his eyes on the main seat in the Oval Office, is betting he can make a name for himself by defending a radical interpretation of what rights transgender people should have in our society. Other Democrats like such as Pennsylvania state Sen. Lisa Boscola, are playing the game far more carefully. She seems better aligned with the majority of Pennsylvanians and Americans on the whole.
A February 2025 Pew Research Center survey shows that U.S. adults strongly favor policies and legislation that compel athletes to compete against those who match their own biological sex (66%) and prohibit gender transitions for minors (56%).
What is Gov. Shapiro saying? He meets federal attempts at defunding medical facilities that facilitate sex-altering medicines and surgery to minors with maligning commentary, calling supporters of the defunding “extremist politicians.”
He has convinced the Democratic-led House to bury Senate Bill 9, the Save Women’s Sports Act, in committee. House Democrats refuse to let Bill 9, already passed with bipartisan support by the state Senate, to come to a floor vote, despite verbiage explicitly stating that the bill is not to “be construed to restrict the eligibility of a student to participate in an interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural or club athletic team or sport designed for the student’s sex or designated coed or mixed.”
Instead, the bill holds that girls’ and women’s sporting spaces are protected in acknowledgement of biological realities. One has to wonder if aligning with the majority of Americans on the issue and the spirit of Title IX is being extremist. Even three years ago, Shapiro dubbed a similar bill, Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1191 as “cruel, designed to discriminate against transgender youth who just want to play sports like their peers.”
In 2022 Sen. Boscola also took a moderate stance on Senate Bill 1191. The bill called for three designations for sports in the commonwealth: male, female or coed. She conveyed her compassion for those suffering gender dysphoria, empathizing “with the individual in transition, a person who’s trying to come to grips with who they are and seeing sports as an opportunity to be included. A decision that cannot be easy and it must be isolating and very scary.”
Boscola explained her crossing of the aisle on the more recent iteration of the Pennsylvania Legislaturealigning itself with the majority of the globe. She recognizes, like most of us, that, “After puberty, males and females are different, and the impact on athletic performance is evident.”
At the same time, the matter need not be a zero-sum game.
“This policy will not go away until we create a policy that works for all involved,” Boscola said, suggesting that transgender student athletes receive the opportunity to compete. Perhaps in their own division? I am unsure, but she is attempting to bridge the divide, unlike Shapiro.
Boscola’s reasonability standard aligns nicely with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s approach on the matter. As the USOPC’s website states, “athletes participating in sport during or after puberty, fairness demands a balanced approach aimed at inclusion and also at field of play safety and existing competitive opportunity.”
In 2020, the International Olympic Committee reminded us that, “Sport is one of the most powerful platforms for promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls.”
The organization noted the increase of “women competing at the Olympic Games” – from 34% in 1996 in Atlanta to a record 48.8% in 2020 in Tokyo. The Olympics reached female-male parity for the 2024 Paris Games. Fair, safe opportunities for women and girls is what the committee, Boscola and millions of Americans are about.
The United Kingdom, too, is working toward a balanced approach on the matter. The Cass Report done for the National Health Service, argues for “extreme caution” with “masculinising/feminising hormones from age 16” and “a clear clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage rather than waiting until an individual reaches 18.”
At the same time, Shapiro is one of the named plaintiffs in a lawsuit claiming “President Donald J. Trump and his administration have relentlessly, cruelly, and unlawfully targeted transgender individuals.
Pennsylvanians and all Americans must be fair. Data from 2019 shows that 43% of transgender youth have been bullied on school property.
Dehumanizing is not the goal here. But Shapiro’s passive disenfranchisement of girls in woman’s spaces and more assertive position on permitting those not allowed to drive a car or vote yet to have ostensibly irreversible surgery performed on their tender-aged persons calls into question whether he will be able to carry the nation given that he seems so far out of alignment with the majority of it.
This is a contributed opinion column. Christopher Brooks is a professor of history at East Stroudsburg University. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author, and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication. Do you have a perspective to share? Learn more about how we handle guest opinion submissions at themorningcall.com/opinions.
