Olympic boxing dispute exposes fallacy, hypocrisy of Kansas ‘Women’s Bill of Rights’ | Opinion
One day about 25 years ago, back when the River Festival stretched from the Arkansas River to Old Town and there was lots of free stuff to do, the Hanes underwear company parked a promotional trailer in front of what is now the Museum of World Treasures.
Inside the trailer were a number of promotional displays, including a plaster cast handprint by Michael Jordan, the face, if you will, of Hanes’ boxers and briefs.
I put my hand in that handprint, and discovered that Jordan’s fingers were about two inches longer than mine and about twice as big around.
And I remember thinking, “Well, I guess that’s why he’s the greatest basketball player of all time, and I’m not.”
I’ve been thinking about that lately while contemplating the strange case of Imane Khelif, an Algerian female Olympic boxer who’s being attacked by social conservatives in Kansas and elsewhere, who allege she’s a man competing in women’s athletics.
It’s entirely possible that Khelif possesses a genetic advantage over some of the other competitors in the event — sort of like Michael Jordan had those preternaturally large hands of his.
But it’s become increasingly clear that Khelif is not a man.
Instead, she’s the victim of rumormongering by Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who runs an outfit called the International Boxing Association.
The Russia-based IBA used to run Olympic boxing, but the International Olympic Committee permanently banned the organization after an independent investigator “detailed decades of financial mismanagement and deception, rule breaking in the ring, and inadequate training and education programmes for referees, judges and officials,” as the BBC reported.
Kremlev’s organization has ties to the Kremlin and its only significant sponsor is Gazprom, a giant energy company primarily owned by the Russian government.
Last year, the IBA disqualified two fighters from its championship tournament, Khelif and Tawianese boxer Lin Yu-ting, shortly after Khelif beat a previously undefeated Russian boxer.
Both have been boxing internationally for years. Both competed in the 2021 Olympics, with Lin finishing in an eight-way tie for ninth and Khelif, a four-way tie for fifth.
Both have advanced to the semifinals of the Paris Olympics, guaranteeing them at least a bronze medal this year.
Kremlev has claimed the pair failed a gender test, but hasn’t release details of how the unspecified tests were administered or what the results were.
What, you may be asking, does any of this have to do with Kansas?
Quite a lot, actually.
Last year, Kansas passed a law that says your sex is what you were assigned at birth — no ifs or ands, and the only opinion that counts is the doctor who first slapped your butt.
Specifically it says this:
(1) An individual’s “sex” means such individual’s biological sex, either male or female, at birth;
(2) a “female” is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova, and a “male” is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.
The Olympic controversy represents a conundrum for the 84 members of the state House and 28 senators who passed the law over a thoughtful veto by Gov. Laura Kelly.
The law, deceptively named the “Kansas Women’s Bill of Rights,” was originally introduced by Republican state Sen. Renee Erickson of Wichita.
When the Khelif controversy surfaced, Erickson shared a post on Facebook by former collegiate swimmer turned anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, falsely asserting that “Imane Khelif is 1 of 2 male boxers fighting women at the Olympics,“ and that “the Olympics glorifies men punching women in the face with the intent of knocking them unconscious.”
Two of Erickson’s closest legislative allies, Patrick Penn of Wichita and Kristey Williams of Augusta, indicated their agreement.
I won’t pretend to be an expert on the sexual characteristics of Algerian boxers. That’s probably why I’m not a Kansas legislator.
But the one fact not in dispute is that Khelif was assigned female at birth.
Under the Kansas law, as introduced by Erickson and supported by Penn and Williams, that would make her a woman, now and forevermore.
How interesting, then, that conservative legislators are apparently willing to abandon the most basic premise of the law they foisted on Kansas, when it conflicts with their agenda of tormenting people whose gender doesn’t conform to what they think it should be.
Essentially, Kansas lawmakers supporting the IBA position would force these boxers, natural-born females, to become transgender.
Must say, I didn’t see that coming.
Kremlev has claimed the two women boxers have XY chromosomes, which usually indicates male development.
But according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, in about one out of 80,000 cases, people with XY chromosomes develop female reproductive organs. Some can even carry a pregnancy to term, with medical assistance.
Talk about a conundrum within a conundrum.
If conservatives accept Kremlev’s and the IBA’s contentions, they’d also have to accept the proposition that men can have babies.
Now, all this might prompt thoughtful legislators to consider that gender science may be more complicated than they originally thought, and to rewrite or repeal the faux ‘Women’s Bill of Rights.’
If only.
This story was originally published August 5, 2024 at 10:29 AM with the headline "Olympic boxing dispute exposes fallacy, hypocrisy of Kansas ‘Women’s Bill of Rights’ | Opinion."
