This Montanan’s Re-Thinking on the Trans Asterisk*

A while back I wrote down an inspiration to address the male athlete transitioning to female and competing in women's sports.  My idea then is the asterisk, applied the same way as competitors using performance-enhancing drugs.  A little star by a name would indicate the lady was biologically a male or is converting to female.

A criticism of the asterisk is the stigmatism.  The Trans athlete would live with their sports achievements doxed for performance-enhanced physiology.  They could be targeted for backlash at any competition or public event.  Okay, I can see their point.

So a new idea comes to mind...

Give the Asterisks to the Girls!

Instead of drawing attention to the Trans athlete, let's acknowledge the biological ladies with the asterisk.  Now the itty-bitty star means "Athlete is a natural female by birth."  There would be these stars all over the place, throughout the records and player stats, up and down the roster of teams.

Get our free mobile app

You can see what's coming, right?

The Trans competitors will want the asterisk.  The stigma becomes not having a star by their names.  The controversy turns to the performance-enhanced demanding their mark and the born females wanting their asterisk removed.  Soon we would go around and around on getting and removing the asterisk.

Dr. Suess actually wrote a children's story on this star inclusion and removal: The Sneetches.  His 1961 classic addresses discrimination, yet it could apply to this conflict.

I thank the Billings Public Library for the use of their book copy for my selfie.