A thing I’d rather not write
I wish I didn’t have this particular article and podcast appearance to promote.
It sucks to send this newsletter update. I wish I didn’t have this particular article and podcast appearance to promote. But Trump has launched a large-scale attack on transgender people, and I didn’t want to stay silent. His executive order addressing trans women and girls in sports is hardly the only one worth writing about, but it’s the one most squarely in my wheelhouse. So I pitched Slate.
What Trump’s executive order banning transgender women in sports really means.
Here’s what his executive order really means.
The sports order is insidious. On the one hand, it may have little legal merit on its own; if schools and colleges want to keep including transfeminine athletes, they may still try to, though the federal government now may pull funding from and make an example of such institutions. But it’s not as straightforward as it seems—the order does not out of thin air impose a nationwide ban on trans women and girls at all levels of sport. What it does potentially do, though, is put those athletes on notice, tell them they’re not welcome, and scare their states and sports governing bodies into compliance.
Thanks to Seth Maxon for a strong edit and to law professor Erin Buzuvis for a clutch, short-notice interview.
Also, the good folks at Slate’s sports podcast, Hang Up and Listen, invited me on to discuss the order. It was lovely chatting with Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh, though I wish it had been under better circumstances. Hopefully next time.
Megaphone
The Eagles dominated the big game.
Meanwhile, I’m continuing work on my Renée Richards biography, a full draft of which is due to my HarperCollins editor in — gulp — four months. I’ll let you know just as soon as there’s a preorder link to hit.
I’ll leave you with this important image:
