Julie Bindel on another cheating male athlete:

Valentina Petrillo, a 50-year-old biological male, is set to be the first transgender Paralympian. The International Paralympic Committee allows governing bodies to set their own policies, and World Para Athletics permits anyone legally recognised as a woman to compete in the women’s events.

Why stop there? Why not legally recognize cheetahs as human and let them compete in races? Why not recognize dolphins as human and let them compete in swimming competitions?

Petrillo is being lauded not because he is a brilliant sprinter, but because he is the first transgender person to compete in the World Paralympic Games. Supporters of transgender ideology will approve of how inclusive the sporting world is – and the women who complain will be called bigots. Is this going to keep on happening until we are back to the bad old days, when no females competed in the Olympics? Perhaps women athletes have had their moment, won their quota of medals, and are now to be consigned to cheerleading?

It’s hard to see how that situation can be averted unless everyone retreats from the bullshit. If legal recognition is all it takes what will prevent all male athletes from simply demanding legal recognition and then taking women’s places?

The same science that has determined he has a disability can also determine that he is male. The sacrifices made by those hard-working female athletes in order to compete in this elite sporting competition can only be imagined by most of us. We must make no bones about saying that, whether deliberate or not, Petrillo is a cheat.

And that the people he is cheating are women.