Happy Father’s Day to all fathers and grandfathers! We praise God for His perfect design in creating the role of fathers in families!
It’s obvious that God’s design for families—and even His perfect design for who we are as males and females made in His image—is being attacked by political activists. But it’s also true that this political agenda leaves many hurting people in its wake.
That is why, for this 2019 Father’s Day, we want to share with you this special message from an Alaska father who knows all too well what happens when a political agenda directly impacts his family.
We thank God for fathers like Rich, who are raising up godly children who stand for biblical truth. And we thank God for fathers like Rich who are willing to speak up on behalf of their children and Truth in our culture that so desperately needs light in the darkness!
My name is Rich, and I am the father of three incredible girls. They are smart, beautiful and capable young women and I am proud of all three. As for me, I am Dad—slender, tall, dark, handsome and wealthy (or so I identify).
In reality, I am Dad but none of those other things. Because I have a vision or desire to be something I am not does not make that thing real or true. This is a lesson most of us learn early in life. Somehow, this is a lesson a growing number of political activists choose to ignore.
Another lesson I have learned and passed to my girls is that nothing in life is free. Everything comes at a price, and that cost must be paid through hard and consistent work. My middle girl Tanner is a track and field state champion, state record holder, and a Division 1 track and field athlete. She has diligently worked at improving in her sport and follows strict dietary and weight-lifting guidelines 12 months a year, not just in season. She has sacrificed much to earn her place in women’s sports.
Hear Tanner share her perspective on her senior racing season with Family Policy Alliance in this video:
Her senior year of high school, she was forced to race against a boy who identified as female. Fortunately, she beat him, but there were some other less fortunate girls, who probably worked just as hard as Tanner, but were displaced from the podium by this boy participating in girls’ sports.
What about that forgotten girl with dreams of her own and years of hard work? Does she matter?
Today we see males participating in female sports in Olympic, collegiate, high school and even professional sports. Natural biological males are winning women’s events and smashing women’s sports records.
As a dad, it is frustrating and leaves me feeling powerless to protect my girls against this invasion of women’s sports by males identifying as women. The male’s success isn’t because he works harder or because of a lack of effort on the woman’s part. It is simply because of genetics. He was born male and has physically and biologically developed since birth as a male, regardless of whatever he chooses to believe about his social identity. Common sense and science dictate the obvious—male and female are anatomically and physiologically different. This means there will never be a level playing field in the arena of athletics when women are forced to compete against men.
Women have worked hard for decades to prove their abilities and earn their place of acceptance in the world of sports. Males who struggle with gender identity should not be allowed to piggyback on the efforts of women and steal the privileges and honors women have fought and worked so hard to earn.
Why should college recruiters today even grant scholarships to women at all? Why not just provide scholarships to a team of males to participate in whatever sport (as women) and dominate high school, NCAA, the Olympics, or even professional sports?
Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Ten years ago, the subject of men competing as women against women would have been laughable—yet here we are forced to have this ridiculous discussion.
I have no problem with males who struggle with gender identity wanting to participate in sports. However, they should compete against each other fairly in a separate category or in the category of their true sex—not take over the world of female athletics.
A transgender sporting category isn’t an event I would watch or support. But, if the world wants to watch sports consumed with identity politics, then those people choosing to watch will financially make it possible for that sporting category to exist. Leave women’s sports and scholarships for natural born women.
So often, fathers are excluded from the public debate about abortion or about whether it’s ok for men to compete as women in female athletics.
We disagree! The voices of fathers are absolutely critical in our culture—and in the mission field of policy and politics.
Happy Father’s Day to you, Rich, and to all fathers and grandfathers! You are irreplaceable!
The Family Policy Alliance Team
