Lance Armstrong Would Like To Have A Chat About Fairness In Sports

Well, he is the expert.

This weekend, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong decided that the world really needs to hear more from him about "fairness in sports." Not as it concerns athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs, of course, but rather trans athletes, and whether or not those assigned male at birth have too many physical advantages to compete with cisgender women.

Teasing an upcoming discussion with Caitlyn Jenner, Armstrong tweeted out a thread talking about how he just wants to be able to have a conversation about this topic, chastising those who do not wish to engage in a "spirited debate" on the subject.

— (@)  

"Have we really come to a time and place where spirited debate is not only frowned upon, but feared? Where people’s greatest concern is being fired, shamed or cancelled?" he wrote. "As someone all too familiar with this phenomenon, I feel I'm uniquely positioned to have these conversation."

Armstrong, to be clear, was not fired, shamed or cancelled for "spirited debate" so much as "pumping himself full of steroids in order to win bicycle races."

We can assume that the "fear" of being "fired, shamed or cancelled" he is referring to is that of those on the side of barring trans women and girls from playing sports, despite the fact that those same people have "fired, shamed or cancelled" trans people, their allies, and even beer companies. He's probably also not considering the very real fear that trans people have of being discriminated against or worse.

"Is there not a world in which one can be supportive of the transgender community and curious about the fairness of Trans athletes in sport yet not be labeled a transphobe or a bigot as we ask questions?" he asked. "Do we yet know the answers? And do we even want to know the answers?"

First of all, this doesn't need to be a "spirited" debate. A discussion, maybe, about the best way to go about things, but not a "spirited" debate. If you want to have a "spirited" debate, take a strong stance on whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich.

Second, we're certainly not going to have it right now, at a moment in time where people are actively working to oppress and discriminate against trans people. We're just not. It's not a discussion that can be had in a vacuum, independent of the fact that transphobia and hatred is a very real concern right now.

If Lance Armstrong feels that this is such an important conversation to have right at this very moment, then he should take that up with the transphobes and encourage them to stop their nonsense so that his very important conversation is not tainted by it. Frankly, I think we have more pressing concerns at the moment, like the fact that trans people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime, or the fact that states are out here banning gender-affirming care and even threatening to take trans children away from their loving parents, or the many, many other issues that are more important than who gets to throw a softball for which team.

Third, it's definitely not a discussion that those actively working to oppress and discriminate against trans people in other ways get to be a part of. Why? Because it is incredibly clear that they have an agenda beyond "fairness in sports." If David Duke were to say, "Hey, it seems like there are more Black professional basketball players than white professional basketball players. I just want to have a civilized, reasonable conversation about how perhaps we should go back to having segregated teams, so as not to deprive white basketball players of opportunities." you would know that his actual concern had nothing to do with sports.

There is also absolutely no reason for anyone to trust that people who "just want to have a reasonable discussion" and don't know why we can't "just have a reasonable discussion" actually "just want to have a reasonable discussion," because that's not something that ever really turns out to be the case. People have reasonable discussions about controversial and sensitive topics all of the time, people regularly "ask questions" about things they don't fully understand, and because they don't do those things like assholes, it's no big. It's the people who don't actually want to hear the other side of things and are really just looking to further their own agenda that seem to have all the trouble.

Coincidentally, I've never wanted to talk to those people about any other topic, either.

For the record, a comprehensive report on multiple studies for over a decade published this year found that that trans women who have undergone testosterone suppression do not have a clear advantage over cis women .

All of this being said, this seems like a pretty clear gambit on Lance Armstrong's part to weasel himself back into relevance, because I truly could not tell you the last time I even thought about him before this. I actually assumed he was still with Sheryl Crow, if that tells you anything. Not to get conspiratorial, but it sure does seem like the rise in Where Are They Now? celebrities spouting far-right talking points has been directly proportional to the end of VH1's Celebreality era, and I'm starting to think that it's not entirely a coincidence.

 Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons .

Wonkette is independent and fully funded by readers like you. Click below to tip us!