Binary Australia: Australian girl loses to male in her category
Michael Barnett OAM
Australian girl loses to male in her category
A formal complaint has been lodged with Victoria's Education Department after a female athlete missed out on a representative opportunity in athletics to a boy who identifies as a girl in her category.
Emily is the 11-year-old granddaughter of former Olympic swimmer Faith Leech.
The male was allowed to run and beat the girls in the regional Victorian school’s inter-school competition. Only first and second place progress, meaning females in the category like Emily, miss out. It is unfair and negates why there are separate sexed categories in the first place. Emily’s father has lodged a complaint with Victoria’s Department of Education.
“My formal complaint under the guidance of the School Sports Victoria’s Complaints and Grievances Policy is that children competing in athletic events should be considered to proceed to the next level of competition based on their sporting ability, achievements and sporting merit rather than an ideology especially at a Primary School level,” the father wrote in the complaint.
“The outcome I would like to request from this complaint is that my daughter Emily is given the opportunity that she rightly deserves and is allowed to complete at the regional finals.
“While I fully support inclusion and the right of all students to participate and understand the current policy, I am concerned about fairness in competition, particularly for young women like Emily who are striving towards serious sporting achievements and that this policy may unintentionally limit Emily and other young women athletes opportunities to progress in athletics and compete on an equal playing field in the future.”
The department’s executive director of Statewide Programs and The Schools, Brendan Rigby, denied the appeal and stood up for males in female sex-based sport.
Another father, Pieter Greyling also spoke out:
His 13-year-old daughter is a talented athlete who competes with Little Athletics in Melbourne.
“We're already struggling with keeping females in the sport but policies like this just take that away completely, where kids just lose interest and go, why bother?” Mr Greyling said.
The community organisation’s policy states any child younger than 18 can participate in the gender category they identify as, even if it does not align with their sex.
He and another father, life member Stuart Dalton, said they only became aware of the policy – which has been in place since 2019 and reviewed last year - after registering their daughters for next season and having to tick a box that took them to the gender policy.
“It was a little bit hidden as such, until you actually open and start reading and then you really become aware of the actual policy,” Mr Greyling said.
“It’s very upsetting, to be quite honest.
“These athletes compete every Saturday from age six all the way up to age 17 and they’re not actually aware of what is going on, that their achievements and their efforts [may not be] recognised or brushed aside, for the sake of political correctness.”
Male and female categories exist for a reason. There are measurable and observable differences between the sexes. For sport to be safe, fair and dignified those classes must be retained and protected.
No human can change sex. It is ridiculous and offensive to force females to accept males in their categories because of “feelings”. Trans identified people can play sport – in their own category or according to their sex. That is the only way forward.