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But … why?

The president of Louisiana State University apologized for recent comments he made about female Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and the unfairness of allowing someone with male sex/gender advantages to compete against women.

Controversy has swirled around Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting at the Paris games as the International Boxing Association claimed the two have male — XY — chromosomes and hence, technically, are male.

Regarding Khelif’s bout against Italy’s Angela Carini, William Tate IV tweeted on X “This is illegal in Louisiana. We have established guidelines in our laws. Why don’t the Olympics go to two divisions—Open and Women? It allows everyone to compete. Will it take a death to stop this at the Olympic level?”

There’s also been a lot of confusion, especially on social media, about just why the two boxers have an advantage, including the (apparently false) notion that they’re transgender.

Although Tate (pictured) never specifically mentioned Khelif’s gender in his tweet, the LSU student paper’s Sarah Walton writes that despite Tate’s subsequent apology, he didn’t address “the misgendering and identification” of the boxer.

The LSU College Democrats also chimed in against Tate, saying in a statement “Not only did he spread a false narrative that this matchup would be illegal in the state of Louisiana–athletes are required to compete as the sex assigned at birth–he also perpetuated a false narrative that Olympian Imane Khelif is a transgender woman.”

Tate’s apology was posted on X hours later the same day: “Colleagues pointed out LA laws do not deal directly with this context. Thank you. And I appreciate the correction! I apologize for the error and any harm caused. I am committed to a solution that allows for broad, fair and safe participation. We can get there.”

Colleagues pointed out LA laws do not deal directly with this context. Thank you. And I appreciate the correction! I apologize for the error and any harm caused. I am committed to a solution that allows for broad, fair and safe participation. We can get there.

— William F. Tate IV (@WFTate4) August 1, 2024

MORE: Professor: Americans too stupid to have ‘nuanced’ discussions about gender, sex

The Reveille’s Walton claims the “misinformation” regarding Khelif and Yu-ting is due to the “corrupt” IBA — which is “now banned from the Olympics” — and its past declaration about the pair’s chromosomal ineligibility.

There remain, however, many questions about the boxers, and the International Olympic Committee certainly has its share of blame for the confusion.

According to Quillette‘s Doriane Lambelet Coleman, the IOC’s position since 2021 has been that “gender diverse XY [chromosome] athletes should not be considered to have male advantage […] simply because they’re male, and that male [testosterone] levels shouldn’t be disqualifying.”

In addition, the IOC issued this past June a language guide that “disallows the use of sex-based language to describe athletes at the Games and that requires the treatment of gender diverse XY athletes who identify as women to be unequivocal: they are women.”

The IOC also deleted from its website the fact that Khelif (pictured) has high testosterone levels claiming it “doesn’t matter,” and pointed to Khelif’s and Yu-ting’s passports which state they’re female.

“[T]he reason many federations and the IOC itself for years used [testosterone] as a proxy for sex is that it’s an excellent one: neither ovaries nor adrenal glands produce T in the male range, only testes do. If you’re looking for biological sex rather than legal gender, it’s certainly more accurate than a passport,” [Coleman writes]. …

[T]he female category in elite sport has no raison d’être apart from the biological sex differences that lead to sex differences in performance and the gap between the top male and female athletes. The suggestion that we could choose to rationalise the category differently—for instance, on the basis of self-declared gender identity—or that we could make increasingly numerous exceptions in the interests of inclusion (as the IOC seems to have done to allow Khelif and Lin to compete in Paris) has no legs outside of certain progressive enclaves.

Manhattan Institute Fellow Colin Wright further wonders:

At the end of the day, none of us are going to see the actual lab tests directly. So we are forced to either believe of disbelieve any organization who claims to have tested their DNA and presented the results.

I see no good reason to believe the IBA would be lying about…

— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) August 8, 2024

MORE: Oregon HS track coach fired for proposing ‘open’ division for transgenders sues district

IMAGES: LSU; End Wokeness/X

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