In a recent article for The Intercept, author Natasha Lennard attempts to paint those arguing against biological males in women’s sports as right-wing extremists seeking to target female sports. She highlights the recent controversy over Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who faced criticism after her victory in the Paris Olympics.

The author takes aim at folks like former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), accusing them of fueling a discriminatory agenda against both transgender and “cisgender” women athletes. She says that Khelif, who was deemed eligible to compete by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), faced baseless accusations of being a “biological man” from right-wing media. Lennard falsely characterizes these attacks as a broader campaign to enforce gender binaries that disregard social, biological, and medical realities.

“The exclusion of trans women has been a Republican legislative priority, leading even to proposals for abusive genital testing requirements on girls whose assigned sex at birth is questioned,” Lennard writes.

You probably already know what comes next in Lennard’s diatribe, don’t you? If you guess “mindless race-baiting,” go get yourself a cigar. She brings up South African runner Caster Semenya, a biological male who competes against women.  

“Attacks on Khelif — like previous discriminatory treatment of other female athletes like South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya — reveal the right’s gender ideology for what it is: intellectually untenable and racist,” she writes, asserting that the backlash against this trend is part of some systemic effort to marginalize racial minority athletes under the guise of protecting competitive fairness.

As RedState’s Jennifer Van Laar explained in a recent article, Khelif was disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) based on biochemical tests showing elevated testosterone levels and XY chromosomes. However, she was assigned as a female at birth and was raised as a girl, meaning she is not transgender. As the Editor’s Note explains:

Khelif is referred to as "she" throughout this article because, according to available information, Khelif was raised as a female and lived as a female for her entire life, and hasn't gone through any "transition" process. It is rumored that Khelif has a condition known as "differences of sexual development," or DSD, and might not have known about the XY chromosomes until specific testing was done. If information to the contrary becomes available, we will change the pronouns used to refer to Khelif.)

Lennard portrays the debate as a right-wing effort to police females in sports. But this is little more than brainless projection. Folks on the left and right who oppose pitting women against biological males are concerned with the unfairness of the matter.

Men clearly have distinct physical advantages over women. They are faster and stronger, which means female athletes are generally unable to compete. No amount of progressive gaslighting can change this.

Moreover, there have been far too many instances of female athletes being injured after being forced to compete against men. This happens in combat sports, but also in other types of competitions as well.

Of course, folks like Lennard dismiss these concerns because they are inconvenient to the narrative they wish to advance. They care nothing for the women who are deprived of opportunities and victories. The fact that so many have been physically harmed by this ridiculous ideology is also irrelevant to these individuals. This is why they must dishonestly claim that the opposition is based on bigotry.

Unfortunately for them, these absurd contentions only work on those who already believe them. This is not one of those issues where they can shame people into going along with the gender farce simply by calling them transphobic racists.