This seems like just a few too many things bouncing around, if you ask me.
A biological boy is headed to the Irish Dancing World Championships after he won the Southern Region Oireachtas preliminary competition in Dallas, Texas - and according to an exclusive from The Daily Signal, parents of actual female competitors are “frustrated and outraged.”
And rightfully so.
Now, there are Irish dancing competitions for boys. But the trans child, whose name The Daily Signal withheld because of his age, wanted to dance in the girls' competitions for better results. In April of 2023, he placed 11th in the world in the Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG) World Championships, but 11th wasn’t good enough for him. According to The Daily Signal, “The boy’s social media includes the preferred pronouns 'she/her' and pictures of the child at Irish dancing competitions depict him wearing the typical dance attire for girls, including dresses, makeup, and wigs.”
Thanks all thanks to a move made back in June of 2022, when Southern Regional Director PJ McCafferty insisted that the Annual Convention of the Irish Dance Teachers’ Association of North America (IDTANA) adopt an “inclusivity statement," which ensured that competitions wouldn’t discriminate based on "gender identity." In October 2023, McCafferty announced that “At the Southern Region Qualifying Oireachtas, dancers may compete in the competition appropriate for the gender they identify as in their everyday life, without regard for their gender at birth,” according to The Daily Signal.
While I understand that everyone deserves respect, I used to dance competitively myself. And I know, like everyone should, that there are significant advantages for men over women in an art of this kind.
Rowena Ryan, a former Irish dance instructor, noticed those differences too when she spoke with The Daily Signal.
“When you’re judging competitions between girls and boys, things that you look for are different in a male dancer compared to a female dancer,” she said. “So I just don’t think it’s fair to have the two competing against another because they are judged on different criteria.”
Maggie McKneely, an adult competitor who competed at the Southern Region Oireachetas, told The Daily Signal, “Most sports, men and women tend to do the same basic activity, just at very different skill levels, but Irish dance is highly gendered. The two sexes wear different shoes, they wear different clothes, they actually have completely different dance styles. They’re really not interchangeable in any way.” She also added that she thinks allowing boys to compete in girls' competitions is “ridiculous,” saying, “It’s not fair to the kids. It’s certainly not fair to the girls who have to compete against the boy. And it totally undermines what makes Irish dance what it is, the highly gendered aspect of it is a defining feature.”
Parents of girls who competed at the competition with the transgender child were furious over his involvement and subsequent win.
Related: Takes Balls: Meet the 50-Year-Old Trans Dude Swimming In Teen Girls' Competitions
“I never thought I was going to have to deal with this. And my heart breaks for my daughter and the other girls that are having to deal with this. They are too young to have to deal with topics that are going on in society, that are adult topics, that they don’t quite comprehend yet,” one parent told The Daily Signal, calling the whole thing “unfair."
Others insisted the move was “not OK," with one saying, “The feeling is one of fundamental unfairness, and then obviously the frustration and resentment that goes along with that.”
Ultimately, it is incredibly unfair for boys to be in girls' sports and competitions where they have an advantage, and dance is no exception. I feel for those girls who had to compete and “lose” to the transgender child, and I also feel for the transgender child who is being fed lies that lead him to believe that living a delusion is the best way to win, rather than hard work.
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