California Governor Gavin Newsom’s comment on a podcast last week that it is “deeply unfair” to allow men who claim transgender status to compete in women’s sports led to an explosion of outrage on the left. As dubious as Newsom’s apparent turn toward moderation is, the hysterical reaction of his Democrat compatriots further reveals just how extreme the party has become on the issue.

Allowing – and indeed encouraging – biological males to participate in women’s sports violates basic principles of fairness and the integrity of competitive athletics. But Democrats continue to block and censure Republican efforts to protect women and girls, even resorting to blatantly undemocratic means to do so.

Late last month, for instance, the Democrat majority in the Maine House of Representatives took all voting and speaking rights away from Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby for her social media post calling attention to a transgender athlete winning the high school women’s pole-vaulting state title. This extreme censure reveals a willingness by liberals to use government power to silence opposition to their ideology rather than have a genuine debate.

Democrat House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, Maine’s first openly gay speaker, demanded Libby issue a public apology before her voting and speaking rights are restored. But she refused, saying her liberal colleagues were only upset because her post “exposed truth” about a male student participating in women’s athletics.

Fecteau’s Democrats argued Libby’s post was “doxxing” a high school teenager, but participants in the state championship are well aware of the high publicity of the event. Nothing in law prohibits Libby from exercising her rights to speech, particularly given that she is a state representative who was speaking about a political issue.

Libby’s social media post included two photos: the first showed the high school athlete placing fifth in the men’s competition last year. The second photo is from this year’s competition where the athlete won the women’s state title.

“This is outrageous and unfair to the many female athletes who work every day to succeed in their respective sports,” Libby wrote, adding that Maine should follow President Donald Trump’s federal executive order on transgender athletes.

Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order revoked President Joe Biden’s Title IX funding requirement for schools across the country to allow trans-identifying students to participate in sports that align with their self-professed gender identities. Trump’s order now mandates that educational institutions receiving federal funding must restrict participation in women’s sports to biological females.

“The radical left has waged an all-out campaign to erase the very concept of biological sex and replace it with a militant transgender ideology,” Trump said upon signing the order. “With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over.”

But the Democrat-controlled Maine state government has defied this order, putting federal funds supporting their schools at risk.

A few days after Libby’s post, Trump confronted Maine’s Democrat Gov. Janet Mills at a White House gathering of governors. Mills indicated her state will continue to allow biological males to compete in women’s sports. “You’d better comply [with the executive order],” Trump warned. “Otherwise, you’re not getting any federal funding.”

Mills replied, “We’ll see you in court,” a comment reflective of just how determined Democrats are to continue allowing biological men to compete against women.

Keeping men out of women’s sports is more than just a matter of fairness; it’s also about protecting female athletes. During his address to a joint session of Congress last week, President Trump recognized Payton McNabb, a 19-year-old woman from North Carolina who suffered severe injuries after being spiked in the face by a biologically male player competing on a girls’ volleyball team in 2022.

The impact left McNabb with a severe concussion and lasting neurological issues. Shamefully, congressional Democrats refused to stand and clap for McNabb’s strength in overcoming her injuries and courage for speaking out about the serious safety risks posed by allowing male athletes to compete in female sports.

As Trump has repeatedly warned, Democrats are not representing their own constituents’ call for women’s sports to be protected.

A recent New York Times/Ipsos poll showed that 67 percent of Democrat voters opposed transgender athletes participating in women’s sports. The same poll found 94 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of Independents also said they were against it. Trump highlighted the blatant injustice of biological males competing in women’s sports while on the 2024 campaign trail, making it a key election issue.

Regardless, Democrats have demonstrated they either learned nothing from last November’s election or they are ignoring the will of the people.

On March 3rd, U.S. Senate Democrats voted to filibuster and prevent a vote on a bill that would ban biological males from competing in women’s sports. Every Senate Democrat voted against invoking cloture on the bill, titled the Protection of Women and Girls Sports Act, thereby blocking it from moving forward. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill with every Republican voting in favor and all Democrats save two voting against it.

Those advocating for inclusion of transgender athletes often do so by asking for compassion. Invoking compassion, however, without confirming biological truth, only invites chaos. Democrats apparently have no compassion toward teenage girls who have spent countless hours in pursuit of athletic achievements, only for a male competitor to dash their dreams.

The kindest gesture is to protect the rights of all by abiding by the undeniable genetic differences between men and women.

Democrat ploys may help them avoid votes and debates for now, but they can’t evade them forever. Americans want to ban men from competing in women’s sports. Trump and his Republicans are the only elected officials willing to see the people’s will written into law.

That is why Republicans are winning. If Democrats don’t get on board, the GOP will continue to win.

W.J. Lee has served in the White House, NASA, on multiple political campaigns, and in nearly all levels of government. In his free time, he enjoys the “three R’s” – reading, running, and writing.