The unrest in the world of women's sports caused by transgender athletes has been growing for several years now, first made famous by the horrible treatment suffered by collegiate and Olympic female swimmers like Riley Gaines. The contagion rapidly spread across the sports world, disrupting sports ranging from track and field to bicycling and, most recently, female Olympic boxing. Now the issue has shown up in a seemingly unlikely activity. Competitive darts has now been embroiled in controversy, with the World Darts Federation threatening "disciplinary action" against any female dart player who forfeits her match rather than being forced to compete against a male who claims to be a woman. British female darts champion Deta Hedman was the first to do so earlier this summer, and it appears that the Federation is planning to make an example of her. (Daily Wire)

World Darts Federation has threatened female competitors with disciplinary action if they refuse to compete against trans-identifying males.

Ahead of this year’s World Championship, the WDF issued a statement that made it clear the federation will not tolerate any woman who forfeits their match because they have to play against a biological male, months after British female darts player Deta Hedman did just that, Yahoo News reported.

“The WDF wishes to clarify its position on player withdrawals,” the statement read.

It's worth pointing out that the sport of darts is something of an outlier in this debate when compared to other competitive sports. The most common and accurate argument against allowing men to compete in the vast majority of female sports is that men are born with significant physical advantages over women, particularly once they have gone through puberty. Darts is very nearly the sport that is least impacted by traditional competitive advantages. It is a zero-contact sport and the true measure of success is found in accuracy. There is no advantage to be gained by being able to throw the darts harder, faster, or farther. 

So does that mean that darts should be exempt from a ban on transgender players? I would argue that it does not for a couple of reasons. Having played darts competitively for decades when I was younger, I can assure you that there are subtleties involved that aren't immediately obvious to the observer. There is a psychological element to competitive darts that always comes into play. The slightest distraction when you are standing at the throwing line can spell the difference between pegging a triple-twenty and a score of one. If you are already shaken up by the arrival of a man in a skirt who is lined up to be your next competitor, you probably won't be at the top of your game.

Even if that weren't the case, however, this would still boil down to a basic question of right versus wrong and simple fairness. Women's sports are intended to be for women so that they can have "a league of their own," to borrow a phrase from Hollywood. If we're going to protect female swimmers, sprinters, and boxers from having to compete against gender-confused men, why should the dart players be left out on their own? Where is the solidarity among women? The original intent of Title IX wasn't prefaced on assumptions regarding relative physical capabilities, but rather on the right of girls and women to compete against each other, leaving the men to similarly compete against other men. We already have at least one British dart player forfeiting her chance to win tournaments and now facing further "disciplinary action" because of all of this transgender madness. Where does it all end?