In regard to L.D. 926, the bill introduced by state Rep. Beth O’Connor to ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports, I find it incredulous that so many “experts” out there who support it show not one bit of proof that transgender women are indeed superior, in any way, to cisgender women.

Do your homework. I did. The threat transgender women pose to cisgender women is railed against, but unfounded. The physical and competitive superiority of transgender over cisgender women is a myth. There is no epidemic of transgender dominance in sports at any level anywhere, let alone in Maine. Studies do not show testosterone levels to be equated with higher performance levels.

Statements are made that cisgender women can’t win if transgender women participate, but in fact, in February, 2020, Chelsea Mitchell, of Canton High School in Connecticut, beat Terry Miller, her transgender opponent, two days after filing a lawsuit against Miller’s participation in girls’ track. The Olympics has been inclusive of transgender athletes since 2004 yet not one athlete has qualified to participate or won a medal. The sexual identification exams are invasive and traumatic.

To introduce or support this law without scientific proof is to attempt to impose one’s own bias and racism on a population of kids already marginalized. It is a rejection of another human being without knowing that person using non-existent facts to support it, a method that is all too common today.

I urge you to contact your state representatives and senators and call for them to reject this suppression of human rights, because that’s what it is. No one in any arena who hasn’t questioned their own sexual identity is in a position to judge another human being. Period.

Robin Johnson

Waterville