November 10, 2025 - 7:30pm
The Times reported this week on the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) impending big announcement: competitors with differences of sexual development (DSD) and trans women — that is, biological males — will no longer be permitted to compete against women. The decision stems from “a science-based review of evidence about permanent physical advantages of being born male.”
Though the IOC contends that it hasn’t, in fact, made up its mind, many supporters of girls’ and women’s sports breathed a sigh of relief, mixed with a bit of “I told you so”. “There was no scientific review needed if you just used basic reasoning and … your eyes,” former pro gymnast Jennifer Sey wrote on X. “But we got there.”
If the IOC makes this announcement official, it will mark a return to a reality that many of my fellow Western liberals have lost sight of, caught up in their eagerness to signal inclusivity and kindness — or their fear of being branded exclusive or unkind. But it is difficult to forget how far from reality we strayed. Over the past few years, as sports organisations embraced the flawed notion that “trans women are women”, female boxer Angela Carini abandoned her Olympic bid after 46 seconds in the ring with male Imane Khelif. Male Lia Thomas not only won several college swim races, but was nominated as NCAA “Woman of the Year”. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of women and girls were forced to compete against males in sports from Ultimate Frisbee to volleyball — not to mention having to change in locker rooms with them.
The upside of these high-profile cases in women’s sports was that they alerted many people to the fact that “trans rights” weren’t just about protecting people from discrimination; they were also about redefining sex in a way that unfairly impacted women and girls. They even opened the door for some Democrats to speak up. As Massachusetts Representative Seth Moulton said after last year’s presidential election: “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”
But are Democrats really learning? Frustratingly, Moulton refused to vote for a bill pledging to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports, and expressed his support of the Equality Act, which encodes gender identity over sex in law. That leads us right back to the place the IOC will hopefully free us from.
Meanwhile, Moulton’s colleague, Senator Ed Markey, showed up at the No Kings Day rally wrapped in a trans flag. And New York City just elected a mayor pledging millions of dollars for the same gender medicine that multiple European countries have backed away from. Even centrist Democrats who won big in last Tuesday’s election couldn’t articulate a clear position on gender identity in schools. They don’t know how to release themselves from the chokehold of these ideas and policies.
The IOC’s move, if finalised, will be a rare moment of clarity in an era when common sense has often been sidelined. But whether this sparks a broader reckoning remains to be seen. For now, women and girls have a brief reprieve, but the race to protect their rights is far from over.
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