St. Anselm College professor Loretta Brady submitted testimony in opposition to both HB1251, the NH House Save Women’s Sports bill, and SB480, the NH Senate Save Women’s Sports bill. Both bills aim to ban the participation of biological males in female-designated public school sports in New Hampshire.
Related: Nashua Public Health: ‘Yes’ to masks. ‘No’ to ice cream.
Professor Brady emailed her testimony to the House Education committee from her St. Anselm College email account, signing her email “Loretta L.C. Brady, Ph.D., Professor, Psychology.” Although she claims otherwise in her testimony, sending the email using her college email address and signing her email as a professor, leaves one to wonder if allowing men to compete in women’s sports is an endorsed position of St. Anselm, a Catholic college that was founded and is administered by Benedictine monks.
Here are the falsehoods from Professor Brady’s testimony:
- Males don’t have an advantage over females in sports, and females are not harmed by having males participate in their sports.
- The bill is discriminatory against biologically male gender nonconforming children. Also, black biological females could be banned from female sports under this bill because they are more masculine-looking.
- This bill would subject students to invasive, and potentially traumatizing, medical procedures. Only males would be subjected to those procedures, and females wouldn’t be, and this is against federal law.
- There are more than two biological sexes, and sex isn’t solely biological. She claims sex is “influenced by culture, language as well as physiology that is influenced by environment, experience, social culture, and physiology.”
- This bill would harm the mental health of biologically male gender nonconforming students and would put them at risk for suicide by denying them participation in school sports.
- This bill “reifies harmful historical ideologies” that are “not supported by developmental science, educational research, or mental health advice” and it conflicts with the International Olympic Committee’s policy on males participating in female sports.
The reality:
- Males do have a big advantage in female sports. Females are physically harmed during competition with males. And females are denied privacy when having to disrobe alongside males in sports locker rooms. You can read about the science at the Save Women’s Sports website.
- This bill would not ban biologically male gender nonconforming children from school sports. Male and co-ed sports would continue to be open to them.
- Male students are subject to uncomfortable medical procedures, but this has nothing to do with school sports. These exams are a standard part of the well-child exam and pediatricians perform them to check for abnormalities in the male anatomy. These exams are done whether or not the student participates in school sports. If there is any question about a student’s biological sex, a note from the student’s doctor is all that is needed. If a student doesn’t have a doctor then a simple cheek swab and a DNA test could be used to check the student’s chromosomes. If a Y chromosome is present, that would verify he is a biological male. If the Y chromosome is absent, then she is a biological female. That covers 100% of variations on chromosomes that a student might have. It is not complicated, as many claim, and no medical procedure would be required.
- Science tells us that there are only two biological sexes. The idea that biological sex is “fluid”, or that there are more than two sexes, is not scientific and has no place in law or in our public school policies.
- Gender nonconforming children are at greater risk of mental health problems and suicide. They need extra support from medical health professionals. Forcing girls to compete against biological males won’t solve their problems and very well could cause problems in the future when they realize that they were taken advantage of by adults who wanted to use them in a cruel effort to tear apart social mores and deprive women of their right to have their own sports.
- There is much science behind the need to separate men and women’s sports. The International Olympic Committee is making decisions that could be seriously damaging to women’s sports. You can sign a petition to ask the IOC to reconsider their decisions about allowing males to compete in female Olympic competitions.
In the final footnote in Professor Brady’s testimony, it says “Narratives suggest that forcing individuals into a gender category that is unwanted can have enormous psychological costs.” This bill does not deny that gender nonconformity exists and can be difficult. However, allowing males to dominate female sports is wrong and can have enormous psychological costs for the women who lose out to men in their own sports and are forced to share their locker rooms with them. As more coaches realize that they can replace a female student with a stronger and bigger male student, this problem will get worse until women’s sports are obliterated. Women deserve better.
Contact your NH state senator and ask him or her to vote Ought to Pass on SB480. The NH Senate may vote on the bill the next time they meet. SB480 is the last opportunity this year to protect women’s public school sports in New Hampshire.
Watch Professor Brady’s testimony in opposition to SB480 to the NH Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee on March 10, 2020 below.
