New York's Proposal One Endangers Female Sports
High school and collegiate sports are pillars of community life across the United States. They glue towns together in a spirit of solidarity, instilling qualities like sportsmanship, teamwork, discipline, and hard work in young people. Local sports teams can unite entire communities on game day, and coaches often become pivotal, even life-changing mentors, especially for student-athletes who lack positive role models at home. For some, hard work in their chosen sport can even lead to collegiate scholarships, providing educational opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach. But female sports are now in grave danger in New York, thanks to overzealous progressive officials and “Proposal One,” a state constitutional amendment on the ballot this November that would likely give males the right to participate on female sports teams.
One of us (Paula) knows firsthand the benefits of female sports and the harms that would come from allowing males to compete against women. Swimming was the one constant in Paula’s life that carried her through the ups and downs of high school, providing motivation and purpose to her every day. Like many serious athletes, Paula’s commitment to her sport caused her to sacrifice countless weekends, social events, and even Christmas holidays in pursuit of her goal—to swim on a Division I collegiate team. Her persistence paid off when she became a member of the University of Pennsylvania Women’s Swim Team.
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Paul Dreyer is a Cities Policy Analyst at the Manhattan Institute. Paula Scanlan is an ambassador with the Independent Women’s Forum, and former teammate of Lia Thomas on the UPenn women’s swim team.
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