Hawaii’s Patsy Mink, celebrated as the principal architect of Title IX, championed legislation that transformed opportunities for women in education and athletics. However, Hawaii’s current senators have declined to support legislation that would exclude transgender women from women’s sports competitions.

When Mink advocated for women’s equality in the 1970s, the legislation focused primarily on creating protected spaces and opportunities for those who were traditionally marginalized based on sex.

How do we honor Title IX’s legacy of expanding opportunities while navigating modern understandings of gender? The equivalence between transgender women and those assigned female at birth involves complex physiological, social and ethical dimensions, but there should be no argument that physical differences allow transgender women a clear advantage in competitive women’s sports. I believe if Patsy Mink were alive, she would agree that transgender participation in women’s sport was never the intent of Title IX, which she fought so courageously for.

Joe Tanaka

Aiea

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