After
The president of the International Paralympic Committee says he is opposed to “blanket solutions” for transgender participation policies.
Andrew Parsons was speaking after United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order that prevents transgender women from competing in female categories of sports.
Sigh. I hate that journalistic caution that obscures the journalist’s meaning. The word “after” renders the rest of the sentence empty. Was Parsons disputing Trump’s executive order, or no? Mere chronology is not helpful.
Last week, International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidential candidate Seb Coe backed the move, and has also suggested he would consider introducing a blanket ban if elected next month.
“One thing that is important to us of course is to protect the female category, this is the number one priority,” Parsons told BBC Sport. “But we also have to acknowledge that there is a growing population of transgender athletes, [and] that they would like to compete at the highest possible level.”
Either Parsons or the BBC is muddying the waters here. There is no “But” if he means women should shut up because lots of men want to compete in their sports. Yes indeed there is a growing population of men who would like to compete in women’s sports at the highest level but they should not be allowed to do that, ever. Protecting the female category isn’t just “one thing” that’s important to “us”; it’s the only fair thing to do.
They can’t protect the female category until they agree on who belongs in the female category, namely females. Such a difficult concept for some of these ninnies.
And they still can . . . in the men’s division, where they belong. What’s that you say? They’re not good enough to qualify for Olympic competition? Welcome to the world of sports. They got to compete “at the[ir] highest possible level.” Their “highest possible level” was below Olympic caliber. Unless, of course, they are good enough to qualify for the men’s Olympic competition. In either case, they have not been deprived of anything that they actually merit. The only thing they’ve been “banned” from is cheating women.