A transgender cyclist has defended her world title win after Donald Trump Jr. said ‘this bullshit will destroy women’s sports’.
Rachel McKinnon, a 37-year-old Canadian, won her second gold at the Masters Track World Championships on Saturday (October 19), competing in the female 35-39 age category sprint.
Her remarkable feat while setting a new world record after making it around the 200m course in just 11.649 seconds wasn’t recognised by Trump Jr., who said ‘it isn’t right’.
Taking to Twitter to air his opinion, Trump Jr. wrote:
Anyone want to guess why??? This BS will destroy women’s sports and everything so many amazing female athletes have worked their entire lives to achieve. I couldn’t care less how you identify, but this isn’t right.
He kept up the tirade, later writing: ‘You can never be woke enough! Sorry to all female athletes who spent their lives mastering their games.’
Clearly enjoying her gold medal win, McKinnon was initially oblivious to the storm brewing online. After noticing the ‘hate messages’, she found Trump Jr.’s tweet and responded.
She quote-tweeted him, writing: ‘Oh THIS explains the explosion of hate messages I’m getting!!’
McKinnon has been competing as a female athlete since 2016 – in response to the online storm, she commented that: ‘We are either full and equal women, or not. We are.’
In another tweet, McKinnon wrote:
Pssst. I was competing prior to the IOC’s 2015 update to their trans policy. I met the older, more restrictive 2003 policy. Y’all don’t have a problem with testosterone levels, you have a problem with trans women period. Lowering the testosterone limit won’t affect me.
McKinnon also said in a previous tweet: ‘I’m just going to come out and say it: My body doesn’t produce testosterone anymore. And it hasn’t for nearly a decade. Draw your own conclusions.’
As per the rules from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), transgender athletes are permitted to compete in women’s events if their testosterone levels are lower than ‘five nanomoles per litre of blood’.
While McKinnon absolutely meets that criteria, Trump Jr. hasn’t been the only person to criticise her – other athletes have chimed in.
Martina Navratilova, 18-time Grand Slam tennis champion, told The Sunday Times earlier this year:
A man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organisation is concerned, win everything in sight, earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he desired.
However, back in April this year, McKinnon told BUSINESS INSIDER this illustrates the ‘dictionary definition of transphobia’.
McKinnon said:
We should never deny people’s rights because a select few, in theory, could commit fraud… The idea we should ban all immigrants because one or two might be terrorists is the height of racism, bigotry, and xenophobia. So their argument is the very definition of an irrational fear of trans women, the dictionary definition of transphobia.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues, and want to speak to someone in confidence contact Mindline Trans+ on 0300 330 5468. The line is open Mondays and Fridays, 8 pm to midnight and is run by trans volunteers.
After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.