Cheers

I think I just found it jarring that a pissy politics thread suddenly branched into a gender politics tit for tat.

My son is trans. Much like much of the trans community, I don't think he gives a monkeys about the trans athletes debate and just wants to live his life peacefully.

I think any of the sloganeering stuff is pretty unhelpful on all sides (eg. "trans women are women") and having done work with victims of domestic violence I absolutely think it's essential that there are safe spaces for all vulnerable people. Men, women, children and everyone. There's too many strawmen arguments thrown around and this is hardly the place where this will get sorted out (or where minds will be changed).

I *hate* it when people suggest that there's some pecking order and that one characteristic trumps another.

The trans sport debate is particularly toxic, and personally I have no truck for the idea that anyone is entitled to compete in sport professionally. Professional sport is an utter mess (drugs, inequitable facilities and access, toxic coaching and money laundering) and is in no way a petri dish for what even a teeny fraction of what day to day people deal with. The trans sport debate never mentions trans men - I suspect if having them compete equally was sorted it'd all fall away...

Gah, rambling now. I guess the point was that I did find some of the shorthand you used unhelpful - the way we'll pick through this isn't going to be treating it as a competition, but trying to understand what each group needs, fears and where compromises can be made.

And seeing it on a football forum where I nip in to relax and talk nonsense and in which I have a great deal of time for the majority of posters, yourself particularly, even when we disagree, was dispiriting.

Thanks for the apologies.

Posted By: Cardiff Canary on June 19th 2025 at 11:32:46

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