Rita Panahi: Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sport is unfair lunacy

Female athletes are not only having their sporting dreams dashed by someone with male body parts, but risk being called a bigot when they speak out.

We are being asked to disregard reality, logic and any rational standard of fairness and embrace a perverse version of “inclusion” that sees biological males allowed to participate in women’s sporting competitions.

There’s a reason why men and women have their own competitions; men are bigger, faster and stronger and natural-born women cannot hope to compete against natural born men, no matter how they identify.

The latest trans athlete to make a mockery of women’s sport is swimmer Lia Thomas, who on the weekend won gold at a US National Collegiate Athletic Association event. Emma Weyant, an Olympic silver medallist from the Tokyo Games, should be listed as the winner but will go down in the record books as coming second.

Before identifying as a woman, Thomas was a mediocre male swimmer, but in the women’s league “she” is breaking records and winning gold. Earlier this year some of Thomas’ teammates complained anonymously to the media about feeling uncomfortable with “her” presence in the change rooms. The headline said it all: “Lia Thomas’ UPenn teammate tells how the trans swimmer doesn’t always cover up her male genitals when changing and their concerns go ignored by their coach”.

Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, is breaking records and winning gold against female competitors. Picture: AFP

You read that right – “her male genitals”. This is the madness we are being asked to uncritically accept. These female athletes are not only having their sporting dreams and opportunities dashed by someone with male body parts but they have to accept having a penis flashed in the change rooms or be called a bigot.

Speaking anonymously, one of Thomas’s teammates said: “It’s definitely awkward because Lia still has male body parts and is still attracted to women.” So here we have a formerly male swimmer with male body parts still dating women competing against and beating female swimmers who are so terrified of being called transphobic, they only complain anonymously to the media.

Sporting greats from Martina Navratilova to Sebastian Coe to Caitlyn Jenner, who won Olympic gold in the men’s decathlon, have been labelled bigots for speaking out against male bodies being allowed to compete against female athletes. The harsh reality is this utterly unfair lunacy will only stop when female competitors in unison say “no more”.

They must come together and take a stand against the sports administrators, media, trans activists and anyone else pushing this agenda. One or two women speaking out won’t do. They’ll just be maligned as bigots. But if the whole team steps down, if other female swim teams refuse to compete against Thomas, then they send a powerful message.