A platform

The same old stupid lies:

Being a sports star does give [Olympic diver Tom Daley] a platform that’s useful for more than just reverse pike backflips. He was “furious” after a ruling by the diving body FINA in June to ban transgender women who have gone through male puberty.

“We should be sending out a message to everyone that everyone is welcome no matter who you are, where you come from, your gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, whatever it is, everyone should feel welcome when they try sport,” he says.

Welcome in sport, yes, but not men welcome in women’s sport. Easy for Tom Daley to ignore the problem with letting men invade women’s sport.

We don’t get into the question of fairness, here: the counter-argument runs that divers who were born biologically female would be at a clear competitive disadvantage. But Daley’s point is a broader one. “I just think of myself when I was younger. I’m not transgender, obviously, but if I was told as a gay man I was never going to be able to compete because of who I was, then of course I’d never have tried.”

But that’s not what transgender people are told. Nobody is telling them “You can’t compete because of who you are.” But if men who claim to be transgender take over women’s sport guess what – women are being told it will become impossible for them to compete because the men will always win.

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