On May 13, 2022, the World Swimming Coaches Association (WSCA) made history by proclaiming that men calling themselves women should not compete against women.  Their official position is that women cannot compete fairly against men, and that's that.  The WSCA goes on to promote the idea that trans athletes should have their own category, and they insist that they want respect for all athletes.

That is as it should be.  No one should be made to feel unwanted or that he cannot compete in a sport he loves.  The Special Olympics, Invictus Games, and Paralympics are all events based on biological factors.  Creating a Trans Olympics would give a fair chance of participation to any athlete who does not wish to compete against his own sex.

Image: Female swimmer by rawpixel.

The WSCA is firm that only women should be competing against women.  Some of the association's reasoning on this topic is simply breathtaking:

[T]he inclusion of transgender people [that is, men] into female sport cannot be balanced with fairness[.] ... Competitive fairness cannot be reconciled with self-identification into the female  category[.] ... The average differences in strength, stamina, and physique between the sexes is significant. [Men] are, on average, likely to retain physical advantages ... even if testosterone suppression is utilized. ... Categorization by sex is lawful, and hence the requirement to request information relating to birth sex is appropriate. No individual is compelled to provide any information to a sports organization. However, failure to provide such information should mean that that person would not be able to compete in the category of their choice. The sport of swimming should therefore provide options for those people who prefer not to advise of their sex or gender.

Thanks to the enthusiastic embrace of transgenderism, our society is now wandering in a dark cave where reality is rejected and people are encouraged to believe they can be anything they want to be by simply saying what they wish to be.  There was a time when it was recognized that a rejection of reality was a sign of insanity, but no more.  Men calling themselves women have been stealing the thunder of real women, children who have not even entered adolescence have been pressured into believing they are the opposite sex, and men calling themselves women have received awards that were intended for real women.  The official position of the WSCA gives me hope that we are starting to emerge from the darkness back into a world where men are men and girls are girls.

Pandra Selivanov is the author of The Pardon, a story of forgiveness based on the thief on the cross in the Bible.