Finding out you’re having a baby girl makes you think differently about the world. Like all moms, I want the best for my children, but from the moment I knew I was having a baby girl, I grew concerned for her future. Looking at New Mexico — and America — right now, I worry for my little girl’s future and the future of all of our girls: radical gender ideology that falsely claims that males can “identify” as girls and women is threatening single-sex spaces, especially girls and women’s sports.
I started playing sports when I was 8 years old in Santa Fe, where I was born and raised (my mother’s family has been here since the 1700s). I kept at sports throughout my childhood and adolescence, and was a four-sport varsity athlete at Santa Fe High School (Go Demons!). Participating in sports taught me so much about teamwork, work ethic, leadership, trust, honesty, independence and overall life balance. Learning those lessons from sports helped make me very involved in the community as a teenager — at Santa Fe High School, I was president of the K-Club and Honor Society, and planned major senior events; I have continued to reap the rewards of those lessons today, with athletics and fitness remaining important to me.
I was able to benefit as much as I did because sports were safe and single-sex; I did not have to worry about any boy competing against me and physically harming me, nor did I have to worry about changing in front of boys, which would have been humiliating. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of our girls today, who have to put up with men in their spaces in the name of “inclusion.”
Let’s look at the statistics: Males have larger hearts, larger lungs, more bone mass, more muscle mass, stronger muscles, less fat and no menstrual cycles. Males jump approximately 25% higher, throw about 25% further, run approximately 11% faster, punch 30-162% harder, and accelerate about 20% faster than females. There is no way for girls to compete with males, and introducing males to their spaces deprives girls of the opportunity to experience healthy competition, to learn how to work in teams, to build camaraderie with other girls, and to develop the confidence in all aspects of life that sports can uniquely teach.
This isn’t a controversial statement. Per polling from Independent Women’s Forum, 84% of New Mexicans believe that there are important reasons to separate the sexes in athletics, and 80% are concerned that female athletes have been punished for voicing concerns about having to undress in front of male athletes in private spaces designated for women; 74% of New Mexicans agree that gender identity is not the same as biological sex.
Even though the locals in Santa Fe want their daughters and sisters to be protected in sports, radical ideologues throughout the state and in the Roundhouse disagree. Two years ago, the Legislature passed and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed HB 7, the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Healthcare Act, into law. It mandates that public bodies — including schools — protect access to gender transition, including social, hormonal and surgical transition, or face a $5,000 fine plus attorney’s fees. On this issue, we are seeing radicalism that is in direct contrast to what New Mexicans want from their elected officials. Having worked in the New Mexico State Senate and politics nationally, I know the importance of elected officials representing their constituents and listening to their voices. I know New Mexicans are being ignored.
On June 23, I was in Santa Fe with Independent Women celebrating the 53rd anniversary of Title IX, which was written to protect women in our sports and in our spaces. Our girls deserve far better than to have their opportunities stolen and their privacy violated.