For years, runner Valentina Petrillo competed as a man. In 2019, Petrillo started transitioning and began hormone replacement therapy. Now the biological man is at the Paralympic Games competing against other visually impaired athletes, all biological women.
Petrillo failed to secure a spot in the 400-meter final but will run in the 200-meter race taking place on Friday. Some might say Petrillo's failure in the first event shows it doesn't matter if transgender athletes compete. But it does matter. Whether or not Petrillo medals isn't the point. The fact that this biological male races against women is the height of sexism.
Petrillo is quoted as saying, "This was a dream that I had since I was a little girl." But Petrillo was never a little girl, and he is not a woman. Petrillo can't relate to girlhood or womanhood and all they entail. He can't relate to what it's like to train for and compete in athletic competitions as a woman. And it's well past the time to stop pretending this is the case for Petrillo and others.
The scenario with Petrillo is especially egregious considering the Paralympic Games are for athletes with a wide range of physical disabilities. These athletes have faced difficulties able-bodied adults can't begin to imagine. They have persevered in a world not designed to accommodate them. More than that, they have dedicated themselves to achievement in their particular sport.
The combination of physical and mental hard work and determination makes them role models. Yet, on the world stage, they're required to compete against someone whose biology doesn't match their own. And if not given a spot, it's fair to say Petrillo would claim transgender victimhood.
It is all extremely insulting, not to mention unfair.
Author J.K. Rowling , unapologetic defender of biological women, posted on X about Petrillo, saying, "Why all the anger about the inspirational Petrillo? The cheat community has never had this kind of visibility! Out and proud cheats like Petrillo prove the era of cheat-shaming is over. What a role model! I say we give Lance Armstrong his medals back and move on."
The fact that Petrillo and other transgender athletes on both professional and amateur levels compete in the categories they want, not the ones they belong to, highlights the need to speak out against it. The problem is not going anywhere. In fact, the movement to accept and embrace these public displays of delusion is only expanding. As the culture lurches to the left, criticizing organizations that allow transgender athletes seems like an act of bravery.
After the loss in his first event, Petrillo said , "There are lots of people dying only for being trans, people are killed because they are trans, people commit suicide because they are trans and lose their jobs, or [they] are not included in sport. But I made it. If I can make it, everyone can make it."
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Petrillo and other transgender athletes consider their time competing against biological opposites to be groundbreaking. It is historic, but not in the way they see it. It's a historic step back. It is misogyny masquerading as progress.
While Petrillo marvels at his achievements, in reality, "making it" as a transgender athlete is easy in a sports world filled with cowards who don't dare stand against the bullies. And once again, biological women have to shut up and take it.
Kimberly Ross ( @SouthernKeeks ) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog and a contributing freelance columnist at the Freemen News-Letter.
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