False Claims on Imane Khelif’s Gender Cloud Olympic Triumph
Photo via @imane_khelif, Instagram.
Misinformation fueled transphobic rage from public figures during last summer’s Paris Olympic Games.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif defeated her opponent 46 seconds during a women’s boxing match. Anti-LGBTQ figures, including author J.K. Rowling and President-elect Donald Trump, said the match was “dangerous” and “unfair” and accused Khelif of being transgender.
Khelif isn’t transgender. She has differences of sex development (DSD), which is a group of rare conditions that causes an individual’s sex development to be different from most others.
Women with DSD can have both an X and Y chromosome, which is typically only present in males. Although the condition may alter physical appearance or reproductive functions, having DSD doesn’t make someone transgender or intersex.
Trump misgendered Khelif on social media, and Rowling posted on X “...explain why you’re OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment.”
Though Khelif isn’t transgender, her gender identity wouldn’t have prevented her from competing, according to Clause 5.2 of a framework created to protect Olympic athletes from discrimination based on their gender identity and/or sex variation.
-Clinton Engelberger
