I owe an apology to Joe.
Allow me to explain. I introduced Joe in a column last week. He doesn't actually exist, but I made him up to help explain a complicated topic.
It was about gender and sports and whether it's fair for males to compete against females. It's an evolving ethical dilemma on the Olympic scene, thanks to South African runner Caster Semenya.
She was born with male and female anatomical traits, and her testosterone level gives her an advantage over other females. I wrote that the dilemma could reach down to high school levels.
"No it could not," said Dr. David Baker-Hargrove, the president and CEO of Two Spirit Health Services, a non-profit LGBT medical and mental health facility in Orlando, Fla.
He called to enlighten me on why I was wrong. Naturally, I tried to enlighten him on why I was right.
He pointed out that transgender females undergo hormone treatments that eliminate the testosterone advantage. I pointed out that's the problem posed by Semenya, who won the 800-meter race in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
The International Olympic Committee requires transgender females to maintain low testosterone levels. But as an intersex person, that rule doesn't apply to Semenya.
And due to a May directive from the Justice Department, similar restrictions no longer apply to students at any school that gets federal funding.
In Florida, a transgender student who wanted to play a sport used to need doctor's verification that he or she was truly a transgender person.
As such, they'd be undergoing hormone treatments. Under the Justice Department guidelines, they don't have to undergo treatments or pass a testosterone test.
All they need is to declare they are "male" or "female" and the school must allow them to play, shower and do everything else their new teammates are allowed to do.
That's where I brought in Joe, a fictional stud baseball player with gender dysphoria.
Free of all testosterone-lowering requirements, Joe would probably bat 1.000 for Olympia High girls softball team and get a scholarship to Florida, which also must to abide by Justice Department guidelines.
Would that be fair to Olympia's competition, not to mention the girl who would have gotten that college scholarship?
Last July, the Court of Arbitration for Sport temporarily suspended testosterone testing for intersex athletes like Semenya. Joanna Harper, an intersex studies expert who is transgender, put the decision this way:
"This is a huge human rights victory," she told USA Today, "but sports, not so much."
When I asked whether it was fair in the column, I emphasized sports and short-changed human rights. The Joe I conjured up is not any Joe in the real world, Baker-Hargrove told me.
He said the last thing a Joe would want is to add any more turmoil to their lives. They'd shower separately and do their best to blend in.
And any male who seriously wanted transition would be undergoing hormone treatments, so there would be no testosterone advantage.
The shower scenario is the real hot button. Baker-Hargrove said it stigmatizes the LGBT community and creates the impression that transgendered people are perverted gawkers eager to invade their neighbor's privacy.
What they really want, he said, is for people to understand their situation and treat them with respect. I should have made a point of that in the column, and I'm sorry I didn't.
Could a Joe-like situation happen?
Of course it could. If not, why did the Justice Department feel the need to send out guidelines?
If the IOC had to abide by such rules, Vladimir Putin could have men self-identify as women and watch the medals pile up. And if you think Russia and other countries are above that, please brush up your Olympic news.
But don't take your concerns out on any Joes you may encounter. Any blowback should be directed at the Justice Department or me for emphasizing the sports dilemma over the human dilemma.
I still think it's fair to ask whether males should compete against females. But I should have asked it in a way that was more fair to Joe.
