Transgender man wins women's 100 yd and 400 yd freestyle races.

They only trump FINA in their own countries. They can't tell FINA what to do in other countries. So, the worst case scenario would be FINA events taking place in countries with compatible laws, and maybe some countries unable to send competitors to it.

I'll repeat that I'm not advocating for transwomen entering women's competitions, I'm just pointing out that there may be legal hurdles such as the Equal Status Act etc. that may have to be overcome before transwomen can be excluded from women's sports.

I acknowledge that I could be 100% wrong on the above, that's why I said 'may be' legal hurdles. I'd be surprised if I'm not somewhat right given the way our laws are written.

I can see the courts being busy ruling on this stuff in the near future.

You could end up in a position that a massive financial incentive is created for lower level male athletes to transition (or claim to) and dominate women's sports

But *gender* in this instance is synonymous with Sex i.e Gender is another word for Sex.

They don't mention Sex. But they should instead.

You are correct, sports can set rules. And yes, they did before now and will into the future. But those rules have to be in accordance with the laws of the Country they are taking place in. Remember laws trump rules.

Let me ask you two questions, both from an Irish context.

If the FAI came out and said it was banning black players from playing for Ireland, do you think it would be legal here in Ireland to do so? I think we'd all agree that it's illegal for them to do that because you can't discriminate based on race. It's one of the 9 protected characteristics here in Ireland.

Yet I'm shot down for making the same argument when it comes to transgender athletes taking part in sport. Gender is also a protected characteristic here in Ireland and it is illegal to discriminate on such a basis. So if you ban a transgender athlete, are you discriminating against them because of their gender? This is the part I'm not sure of. On the face of it, it looks to me like it could be discrimination. It's certainly arguable. I certainly wouldn't dismiss it out of hand like you have done.

And yes, I know the point has been made that the Catholic Church don't allow women priests and I also don't know if that is legal or not.

What financial incentive? The vast majority of financial incentive in sports is with sponsorship, actually winning a gold medal at something like the Olympics well net you $40,000 dollars at most. if you want millions you'll need to be making sponsorship deals. With the current situation sponsorship for a trans athlete will mostly be a peanuts around pride month (and most sponsors find it easier and less controversial to go with a gay or lesbian athlete) and nothing any other time of the year due to the controversary and that is being generous very very generous.

Even if we were in a hypothetical scenario where there was no controversary you'll still be dealing with male athletes vastly outnumber female athletes in sponsorship. There are only 2 women in the top 50 paid athletes (both in tennis) and I can see trans athletes falling in behind even lower on the totem poll in terms of pay gap. The possible jump in performance table wise will not see an equivalent jump in financial gain in most cases.

In terms of the reverse, a female athlete transitioning to male, there would arguably be a financial incentive, but as many would argue here there would be no actual performance benefit, in fact you could argue there is more a financial incentive there now seeing as Schuyler Bailar is much less controversial then Lia Thomas and it does appear he's picked up a few endorsements and sponsors here and there, though that might be more as a speaker then a swimmer.

The rules don't discriminate based on gender.

Anyone who goes through a male puberty must compete in the men's division.

Anyone who does not, can compete in the women's division.

Everyone can compete in the open division where availible.

The above applies regardless of what gender somebody is. Same rules for all.

The FAI would be told it's illegal because there is no valid reason to ban black people.

Age and gender categories have a valid reason. You are not "being shot down" you are being told you are wrong because you are wrong.

And you are talking waffle of you "don't know" whether or not what the church do is legal. You think there wouldn't be court cases every day if it wasn't.

And Queen Maeve comes back with….

😂😂😂😂

You don't agree that those are the rules? Well, they clearly are. Are you they does new rules do discriminate based on gender? How?

Correct, they are a transwomen. Nobody is claiming they are biologically female.

It's entirely abut fairness. The entire reason trans athletes shouldn't be allowed to compete in women's division is due to retain advantages. That's a very sensible view, that even some trans people support.

What does losing out on a "place" mean? Why is losing to a biological male with no advantages unfair. Is losing to a biological female who had better training also unfair? It's very hard to make a case for that that isn't simply back by discrimination.

The FAI can only be told it's illegal if there's a law that says it's illegal. And there is a law that says it's illegal. Race is one of the 9 protected characteristics so that's why the FAI can't discrimate against black people. It has nothing whatsoever to do with a valid reason. It's either written in law or it's not written in law.

All I'm arguing is that the same law that applies to discrimination against black people also possibly applies to discrimination against transwomen seeing as gender is one of the 9 protected characteristics that are enshrined in our law here in Ireland. It all depends on whether Irish law distinguishes between transgender women and biological women. And I'm not sure that it does make that distinction.

You might think I'm wrong or talking waffle and and I'm fine with that. It'll take court cases to prove me either right or wrong. Time will tell.