Watching female athletes break barriers on the court, in the water, on the track–all of it, reminds me that we still need to take up room at the tables we are uninvited to.

Gender is biology. If you want to appear as a male or female and dress as you like, that is okay. However, to be fair, biology needs to be a factor when choosing competition standards in athletics. I don’t know how we address gender reassignment and test athletes who have undergone these surgeries. That needs to be sorted so everyone feels it’s fair.

Athletes like Riley are inspiring to all women. You are standing up for biological females who have every right to be challenged in their own category, to be free to get changed without a biological male in the dressing room regardless of the decision they are making to be considered a female, and to not exist in the same category as a biological males even with the same anatomy.

I empathize with transgender people, but athleticism needs to be measured on biology and skill, to be fair. A man’s center of gravity is different from a woman’s. Just this key difference alone changes the way we compete altogether. And we need to look at that. My thoughts on this are that yes, everyone deserves to be represented. But you cannot un-represent females and debase them by supporting transgenders in their category, it’s unfair for both parties.

I hope women get their categories back. We need it. We deserve it. And not having this, it’s not going to result in fairness overall.