CBC Kids News, which states it is a “website for kids, covering the information you want to know,” released a video on July 4 which supports transgender athletes competing in sports.
The video states in notes below it that “FINA, the international federation that oversees watersports in athletic competitions, has effectively banned transgender women from competing in women’s events,” adding, “CBC Kids News contributor Isabelle MacNeil explains the societal stigmas and science at the heart of this debate.”
“A transgender woman is someone who was assigned male at birth, but has the gender identity of a female,” the notes state, then lament, “This means award-winning swimmers like Lia Thomas, who made headlines after she won an event at the NCAA swimming championships in March 2022 would no longer qualify for FINA’s events.”
“Some scientific studies point to advantages and disadvantages transgender athletes experience over competitors. Still, these athletes have not swept the competition the way some believed they would,” the notes continue before asking the kids, “Do you think it’s fair to ban transgender female athletes from participating in women’s water sports?”
“Now, we’re going to get into it, but before we do, it’s really important to remember that behind every trans athlete is a human being, not just a headline or a stat,” MacNeil states. “This is also a really new conversation, with more questions than answers.”
After saying, “So we’re gonna start by looking at how the facts and science can help us understand more about the trans athlete debate,” MacNeil offers this: “For the most part, sport is divided along gender lines. And the reason for that is a commonly held belief that men develop differently than women in giving them an athletic advantage.”
MacNeil turns to transgender athlete and author Joanna Harper to help her out. “A transgender person is someone whose gender identity or innate sense of who they are, as opposed to being male, female, or somewhere in-between, does not match with the way they were assigned at birth,” Harper asserts.
“You can have a transgender man competing against other men, and you can have a transgender woman competing against other women,” MacNeil says brightly.
“The argument here is that no matter how much hormone suppressing treatment a transgender woman will go through, if they have gone through puberty as a male they will still have these natural advantages. And some people say that will lead to transgender women dominating in women’s sports. However, that has not been the case,” MacNeil claims.
Of course there have been events such as this:
Just to show you how absurd this is. Here’s the trans swimmer “Lia” Thomas crushing all of the female competitors by 40 seconds. This is what that looks like in real time. A total farce.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) December 15, 2021
“According to the United Nations, the right to sport is a fundamental human right. And human rights are for everybody, regardless of who they are and how they identify,” MacNeil states.