April showers bring May flowers, as the saying goes, and there’s seemingly a shower of men dominating in women’s sports that has yet to cease. What has bloomed as a result? Social outrage.
Many argue men should not be competing in women’s sports (and vice versa). There are many reports of “transgender” athletes dominating in women’s leagues. But far less common is the story of women participating in the men’s division.
On Saturday, “transgender” runner Aayden Gallagher nearly blew his female competitors out of the water during the 2024 Sherwood Need For Speed Classic track competition in Oregon. The male finished a heat of the 200-meter race in a time of 25.49 — roughly two seconds ahead of the other runners — a sizeable margin in the realm of track and field.
In a different heat, Gallagher barely came in second behind female runner Aster Jones. But despite losing his hold on first place, it’s notable that Gallagher hit the “fifth fastest time ever run in the state’s girls 200m,” and the “fourth fastest time ever run in the Oregon girls’ 400m,” The Post Millennial reported.
But to make an accurate comparison against male athletes, the Post Millenial continued, “Gallegher’s 200m time would have earned 61st place among the male athletes and 46th in the 400m.”
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The online rage sparked by these circumstances was partly due to Gallagher specifically, but also by the bigger picture of men being able to compete in women’s sports in the first place. As the Independent Council on Women’s Sports shared on X, “Championing boys in girls sports is blatant misogyny.”
Championing boys in girls sports is blatant misogyny.
— ICONS (@icons_women) April 14, 2024
Libs of TikTok, a prominent conservative social media presence, also posted on X: “These high school girls just had their dream stolen from them because the school is catering the delusions of a boy who pretends to be a girl. [Gallagher] is a cheater.”
A male just won the Girls 200m Varsity in Sherwood, Oregon. He set a new record for the girls race.
These high school girls just had their dream stolen from them because the school is catering the delusions of a boy who pretends to be a girl.
He is a cheater.
Video :… pic.twitter.com/DzQZ7fN5kv
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 14, 2024
One X user responded to that post, “This man is not just a cheater, he’s a criminal. He’s stolen from girls their opportunity for fair competition and to have a bright future in sports.”
This man is not just a cheater, he’s a criminal.
He’s stolen from girls their opportunity for fair competition and to have a bright future in sports.
He’s essentially ráped their sport and their right to privacy.
This man should be prosecuted for forceful entry and abųse.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 14, 2024
Another wrote, “One day, future generations will look back on this with pain, wondering how humanity ever got to this point. Such a sad situation.”
One day, future generations will look back on this with pain, wondering how humanity ever got to this point. Such a sad situation. 💔💔
— Gail Alfar (@GailAlfarATX) April 14, 2024
And amid several other angry comments, one sobering comment read, “When will parents of girls get sick of their daughters taking second place?”
When will parents of girls get sick of their daughters taking second place ?
— iseecanyou (@Iseecanyou) April 14, 2024
On the flip side of this social controversy is boxer Patricia Manuel. The female recently became the first “transgender” pro boxer to compete in the men’s division.
Before her “transition” in 2013, Manuel competed in the U.S. women’s Olympic Trial, but had to take a step back due to a shoulder injury. According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, “Manuel was a five-time national amateur women’s boxing champion.” But five years later, she started boxing with the big boys. Literally.
While the female boxer had recorded three consecutive wins against men, the fight during the Golden Boy Fight Night in California on April 4 put an end to the streak. Manuel went up against her male opponent, Joshua Brian Reyes, and was knocked out within 21 seconds.
Media Research Center posed the question, “Ever wonder why you never hear stories about women who believe they’re men stealing actual men’s sports trophies and championships?” To which they concluded, “That’s because it doesn’t happen.” And as many have argued, this topic shouldn’t be up to debate.
Macy Petty, an NCAA volleyball player and former Family Research Council intern, spoke with The Washington Stand and warned, “[The Biden] administration continues to reduce sex-based competition to arbitrary hormone levels,” adding, “women are so much more than a hormone level, and our sports should reflect our unique design.”
Do you watch boxing?
According to Petty, “The female league is not a B league, or simply a league for athletes with particular hormone levels. It is a league specifically created for women to embrace the potentials of their God-created design.”
She continued, “Male intrusion not only disrupts the protection of female opportunity but attacks the very design of male and female.” And it appears it’s not just men in women’s sports that causes controversy, as Manuel’s case demonstrates.
Petty concluded, “Male athletes beating women by seconds in track competition is a true mockery of the intentionality distinguishing the sexes. [And] in many cases, such as boxing, it places women directly in harm’s way.”
Many have joined Petty in the pleas of keeping men and women’s sports distinct, including “over a dozen female athletes [who] are suing the National Collegiate Athletics Association for letting “transgender” athletes compete against them and use female locker rooms in college sports.”
The question is: Will high school athletes and their parents follow suit?
This article appeared originally on The Washington Stand.
