The cyclist from Wales
Emily Bridges seems to feel terribly sorry for himself:
The transgender cyclist Emily Bridges feels comments made by Boris Johnson over whether she should race women were the catalyst for a wave of violent threats and has also revealed she wanted to compete at the Commonwealth Games this summer.
Maybe it was Bridges’s decision to race women that were the catalyst for a wave of threats. That’s not to say that threats are ok, but it is to say that his decision to race against women wasn’t Boris Johnson’s doing, and that maybe he’s not the innocent victim in this scenario. Maybe he should stop pitying himself for a minute and think about the women.
Some of those most vocal against Bridges’ potential inclusion in the March event pointed to the fact she had competed in the men’s points race of the British Universities’ Championships a month earlier.
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After the UCI’s intervention and failure to grant Bridges a switch in licence, British Cycling suspended its transgender policy pending a review to “find a better answer”.
It meant any hopes the cyclist from Wales had of competing at the Commonwealth Games – where transgender females are allowed to race in the women’s event – in Birmingham this summer were dashed.
Bridges added: “I knew that my main goal for the season, the Commonwealth Games, was then out of the question because I couldn’t race this event, and it was unlikely I was going to be able to race any international events during the Welsh Cycling’s set timeframe for the selection.
“So the Commonwealth Games were gone. I feel a real pride about being Welsh and I wanted to represent my country.”
What’s missing here? What is Bridges leaving out?
The fact that if he had been able to race, a woman would have been unable to. He would have displaced a woman…from a women’s event. Enough about him; what about her? Why does he matter more than she does? Why does his desire to represent his country matter more than hers?
This is never explained in these puff pieces. Never ever ever ever.
Nothing prevented him from competing in the men’s division to represent Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Nobody mentions that, either.