Brian Giesbrecht is a retired judge in Manitoba.“We have two boxers who were born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman, and who have competed for many years as women.”Those were the words of International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach defending the IOC’s decision to let two boxers, who have XY chromosomes, to box as women at the Paris Olympics.The words were spoken after the world watched Algerian XY boxer Imane Kheif, pummel an Italian female boxer to her knees.However, at least one female boxer, who was similarly brutalized by an XY, disagreed very publicly with Bach.Svetlana Staneva, visibly upset after losing her boxing match to another XY chromosome boxer, Lin Yu-Ting, made a double X gesture to the audience. She was very clearly telling the world that it was unfair for a woman to have to compete in the boxing ring with a boxer who has XY chromosomes.We have been through this controversy before.It involves so-called “intersex” or DSD individuals. Caster Semenya is a world class track and field is a famous example. Intersex people, like Caster are born with ambiguous genitalia. Caster has undescended testicles, and his genitals do not look like those of a normal male. Caster’s parents raised Caster as a girl. However, what was never officially made public is that Semenya, like Imane Kheif and Lin Yu-Ting, has XY chromosomes. That means that Caster has all of the strength, speed and size advantages of a man. As a result, when Caster easily defeated women in competitions there were always complaints from the women Caster defeated that it was not fair for a person with XY chromosomes to compete against a person with XX chromosomes — namely, a woman.But track and field does not involve physical contact. So, a woman who loses a race to a person with XY chromosomes just loses a competition, and is not physically harmed in the process. Not so with boxing. That is becoming clear as we watch the women’s boxing events now playing out in Paris. What we see are women being slugged by men. Because — let’s face it — those two boxers with XY chromosomes we are looking at are men. We can see that with our own eyes. They remain men, regardless of what their genitals look like, what their passports say, or how they were raised. These people should be competing in the men’s events, and not the women’s.The fact that the IOC refuses to see the obvious unfairness — and actual danger — of forcing women to box with men is a frightening example of wokeness gone mad. Empathy for the tiny percentage of people who are born with genital defects has been allowed to not only override common sense, but to actually put women in danger. The same people who would rightly condemn male violence against women now insist on it in the boxing ring. This makes no sense.Thankfully, athletes, like Svetlana Staneva, are speaking out against this obvious injustice. She will no doubt be shamed by the IOC apparatchiks and a woke media for daring to do so. But hopefully she will be able to stand up to this criticism. Because unless female athletes speak up against the unfairness of the IOC policy it will not only continue, but almost certainly be expanded to include “trans” men..Riley Gaines is trying her best to see that this doesn’t happen. Riley is the superb female swimmer who lost out to the hulking Lia Thomas in swimming events. Thomas is a fully intact man who regularly competed in men’s swimming events, with mediocre results. But after deciding that he was a woman, he went on to easily beat all of the real women forced to compete against him in the swimming pool.Riley understood the unfairness of forcing women to compete against men, and has devoted herself to speaking out in a campaign to save women’s sports from this woke insanity. Unfortunately, there are too few “Riley Gaines.” Too many women remain silent, or even voice support for what will certainly result in the death of women’s sports, if women are forced to compete against men in the swimming pool, boxing ring, and other venues.Imane Kheif and Lin Yu-Ting, the two XY intersex boxers now in Paris, should not be forgotten in all of this. They have done nothing wrong. They were brought up as girls, and they think of themselves as women. They have every right to continue living their lives as women, and they deserve our respect.However... the IOC was completely wrong to put them in the boxing ring with women.This is simply a matter of fairness, common sense, and safety. A woman boxing against a person with XY chromosomes is not only under an unfair disadvantage — she is in actual danger. It is only a matter of luck that — so far — no woman has been permanently injured, or killed, in the boxing ring.Because that will happen if the egregious IOC decision to force XX to box against XY isn’t reversed.Because women’s sports should not be destroyed to spare the feelings of .018% of the population.The rule in all sports should be a matter of common sense: XX compete against XX; XY compete against XY. No exceptions.Brian Giesbrecht is a retired judge in Manitoba.
