A female skateboarder says that she isn’t speaking out against trans athletes out of “transphobia,” but to level the playing field for her future daughters.
Speaking on the OutKick podcast Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich, skateboarder Taylor Silverman lashed out at critics who have attacked her for her criticism of men claiming to be women and competing in sports against natural-born female competitors.
Despite the criticism, Silverman\ still says trans athletes have an unfair advantage.
“I thought it was unfair at the time. I was really uncomfortable,” Silverman said about competing against a trans athlete. “So, I just participated and went through the motions of a contest. Like I would try to be a good sportsman. But the more that I sat with it and thought about it, the more I felt like I needed to say something. Because I recognize that this is an issue bigger than skateboarding. This is impacting all different sports and girls and women on all levels.”
The skateboarder also admitted that she feared being blacklisted from her sport, and told Dakich, “I think that like many other women, I was scared of being blacklisted, of being harassed, for speaking up for myself. And I also I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings.”
She said she reached out to Red Bull privately at first but, “I was ignored. So, I went to social media.”
She went on to say that she felt the situation was wrong and worried that her future family could still be facing the unfairness of it all in the future unless she speaks up today.
“And I thought about how this could happen to my kids one day if I’m lucky enough to have a family in the future,” she said, adding, “And my fear of having to explain that to my daughters is far greater than my fear of a smear campaign online by people who don’t even know me.”
Silverman has become a target of attack by radical trans activists for her previous statements on this topic. She added that the hate she is being subject to is “unmanageable at this point.”
But she is also getting a lot of support.
“But the reality of the situation is the majority of the messages I’m getting are supportive, and it’s from people all over the world. It’s parents of athletes, it’s female athletes, it’s professional athletes to compete in different sports who are reaching out to me and also a lot of people in the trans community who agree with me on this and see that it’s unfair,” she said.
All this has come on the heels of her statements last week when she publicly blasted energy drink company Red Bull for sponsoring a skateboarding competition that was ultimately won by Lilian Gallagher, a transgender athlete who used to be a male skateboarding champ.
In a May 18 Instagram post, Silverman noted, “I am a female athlete. I have been skateboarding for eleven years and competing for several years. I have been in three different contests with trans women, two of which I placed second. At the last contest series I did for Red Bull, I placed second.”
“This took away the opportunity that was meant for women to place and earn money,” Taylor added. “What happened was unfair and, at the time, I was too uncomfortable to speak up. I understand that in today’s society even some women think this is acceptable, but I believe in doing the right thing, even if it’s not the popular thing. I now realize it’s really important for me to speak up and I’d like to schedule a time to talk.”
“I hope that my story can inspire more people to speak up. And I hope that it can inspire a conversation where people are able to talk in a reasonable way and come up with some solutions,” Silverman said of her current notoriety.
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