by WorldTribune Staff, December 10, 2023
After placing 11th in a boys world championship dance competition earlier this year, an American boy claiming to be a transgender girl entered the Irish Dancing World Championships and took first place in the girls competition, a report said.
The boy placed first in the under-14 south region girls competition that took place in Dallas, the Daily Signal reported on Thursday.
The boy previously was not in the top 10 in the boys competition at the Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG) World Championships.
“Parents think it’s outrageous,” a parent told the Daily Signal. “They are absolutely outraged. It’s absolutely ridiculous, just like in any other sport …The feeling is one of fundamental unfairness. And then obviously the frustration and resentment that goes along with that.”
Organizers of the dance association defended their decision to allow boys in the girls competition.
“I am aware that there is a great deal of upset … [with] policies that transgender Irish Dancers enter competitions that align with the gender identity of their everyday public life,” said a Nov. 21 statement by dance association official P.J. McCafferty. “We advocate for every one of our dancers …We do our very best to be fair to everyone. This situation is not easy for anyone. Not everyone’s point of view or personal interests align. I am asking for your tolerance. You are expected to respect all the dancers.”
Maggie McKneely, who competed in an adult competition in early December, said in a post at Concerned Women for America: “The powers that be within Irish dance are more interested in being politically correct than preserving both the dignity of Irish dance and its dancers. The sexes are not interchangeable in a dance style centered on who each dancer is biologically. But some factions within the Irish dance community want to throw out everything that makes Irish dance what it is by embracing radical gender ideology.”
Responding to McCafferty’s comments, McKneely said: “To whom, exactly, is this being fair? Is it fair to ask young girls to pour their heart into a sport, and then rob them of the prize for which they have worked so hard? Is it fair to dress a young boy in a dress and wig and teach him to dance like a girl because he’s confused? It is not fair to undermine one of the core truths that make Irish dance what it is, that men and women are different and that’s not only ok, but a good thing!”
Earlier this year, at a major competition in Ireland, a biological male dancer identifying as non-binary won the Adult Women’s competition.
“That particular dancer vocally advocates for the removal of all gendered rules within Irish dance, which would ultimately destroy the sport as we know it. Though, pretending that boys can fairly compete against girls will have the same effect,” McKneely wrote. “The only current recourse is for parents and competitors to speak out against the injustice of gender ideology, especially for girls.”
The mother of a girl who competed against the boy told the Daily Signal she had to remain anonymous in the current woke climate because she could lose her job:
“I’m afraid my child might be chastised or, you know, not allowed to compete in other Irish dancing. This is what she loves. This is her passion. My heart breaks for my daughter and the other girls that are having to deal with this. They just look at it as unfair … And it’s really hard to explain to them what’s going on … what society is making them do.
“As a mom, I want to be an advocate for my daughter,” she said. “But at the same time, I have to protect my family.”
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