www.outsports.com
Right. But in fairness, as a female gymnast, Simone is in a category pretty much by herself.Male gymnast defends Simone Biles in trans athlete debate - Outsports
Gay gymnast Sam Phillips said Simone Biles would 'steal gold' medals from men in certain gymnastics events, in a retort to Riley Gaines.
Ha! some male gymnasts recognize Simone
could take medals in MAG.
Right. But allowing trans women to compete against Cis women is not addressing the complexity either. Simone is the first athlete I know of who has addressed it. As opposed to just shouting and taking one side or the other.
Definitely agree the fact that Simone proposed a third category is worthy of discussion.
www.bbc.co.uk
Right. Look, this is an extremely complicated and uber sensitive issue. I would not expect most trans athletes to be thrilled at Simone's idea of a trans category. But that does not mean it is not the best or fairest answer. Because there is the very obvious reality that a trans woman, especially one that did not transition until after puberty will have an unfair advantage competing against cis women. So the fairness to cis women has to be part of the discussion. Its not a simple matter of what trans people want. Competititve sports have to be fundamentally fair. Or they lose legitimacy.
Yes, I don't think it's transphobic either. My point is that Simone doesn't show any awareness of that position amongst some of the people she's purporting to defend, or the previous failed attempt at an open event, and there's been a lot of words put into her mouth about what she'd think if she did. She could agree with your view here, or want categories based on gender identity only, and nothing she's said so far would preclude either view.
agreed
I had heard the same thing from trans athletes about not wanting a separate category. I think Simone’s heart was in the right place, though.Definitely agree the fact that Simone proposed a third category is worthy of discussion.
I've seen commentary on her tweets from both sides of the divide not pick up on the fact that some trans athletes really oppose this, view it as transphobic. It didn't sound like Simone was aware of that, or that when swimming tried one there were no entries.
Swimming World Cup: No entries received for new open category races in Berlin
World Aquatics says no entries have been received for the new open-category races at the Swimming World Cup event in Berlin.
I've seen a lot of assumption, from people with the full range of views on the subject, that once Simone knows this, she'd be in favour of allowing people to compete in the category of their chosen gender rather than sex.... but she's not actually said that at all. People are filling in the gaps, and as you say, that's quite different to what she wrote.
It will be interesting to see if she says more at any point. I suspect the potential ramifications of having in the same exchange told a five foot five woman that she's man sized might mean she's been advised to leave it for now, as that was not a particularly wise addition to the discussion.
