As we all know, Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling was cancelled a couple of years ago by the trans community. Her sin was having said that biologically-natural women (i.e., women born with female genitalia and raised as a female) have a certain gravity or authority over trans women — “”If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased,” Rowling wrote. “I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.”

Trashed as a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) who had “attacked” the trans community, Rowling was trans-hated before David Chappelle took her place last year.

Three days ago “T. Greer” tweeted these images from a N.Y. Times video ad being displayed in the Washington, D.C. metro — imagine the deranged chutzpah of the Times advertising team to actually come up with this ad. [HE to readership: This is not a joke — this is a real ad.]

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It is not fair for women to race against transgender Lia Thomas,” female tennis champion Martina Navratilova recently tweeted. Diana Nyad, the legendary female swimmer who is the only person to swim between Florida and Cuba unaided, wrote in The Washington Post that “no amount of analysis can erase male puberty’s advantages. Perhaps a fairer plan is to give competitions a new ‘open’ classification: Cisgender, transgender, intersex — all are welcome.”

“Many of the parents I spoke to say they’d be fine with Thomas swimming in the male category or a category all her own, as Nyad suggests. They aren’t trying to hurt anyone’s feelings or exclude anyone outside of the necessarily exclusive and biologically defined area of women-only sports. They don’t seem to have a problem with Iszac Henig, a Yale student and a trans man (who doesn’t have the advantages from male puberty), swimming in the women’s events. (Thomas reportedly wore a one-piece and went by “she” her junior year while on the men’s team.)

“It also feels cruel to hit out at Thomas — who would choose to make themselves the target of such vitriol? Plus, she’s technically following all of the rules of the Ivy League and the NCAA. But when Thomas wins by half a length, it’s a huge deal, and the blame has to lie somewhere.

“Most parents in the stands lay it at the feet of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (CAA). They had expected that the NCAA would impose some clarity. Instead, in January, the NCAA announced that when it came to transgender athletes, it would defer to the governing bodies of each and every sport. Three weeks ago, U.S.A. Swimming announced its new guidelines, which are pretty extensive. For example, a transwoman now has to have her testosterone tested, and clear the 5-nanomoles-per-liter threshold for 36 months.

“This apparently caught the NCAA by surprise, prompting the organization to double back and announce that it would be unfair to transgender swimmers to implement the new U.S.A. Swimming guidelines this late in the game.

“All this means that Thomas will get to compete at the NCAA championships next month. And that the parents of the female swimmers she’s trouncing are very annoyed.

“One Penn dad, whose daughter swims against Thomas in distance events, tells me he places the blame “squarely on the NCAA.” His wife chimes in: “The NCAA has done biological women, and her, wrong and they need to fix it.” A Brown dad says the NCAA ruling adds up to “weasel words.” A Princeton dad tells me that “either the people supporting this are on the wrong side of history, or it’s the end of women’s swimming.”

“The parents’ longer-run fear is that college coaches will start recruiting trans athletes, and that female athletes who have worked tirelessly in high school won’t get a fair shot. They say their daughters can’t reasonably train harder, lift more, or do anything to overcome the biological facts that make Thomas impossible for them to beat. The NCAA and Ivy League are essentially telling their daughters, they say, to set their hopes on second place.

“When Thomas won the 500 free, I started chatting with a security guard. What did he think when she won? ‘Speechless,’ he said. ‘Just speechless.’ What did he think the solution was? Will the league change course? ‘Nothing will change. This is Harvard. There’s no controversy, no racists,’ he said. Then, with a wink, ‘Everyone is equal.'” — from Suzy Weiss’s “Watching Lia Thomas Win,” posted on 2.21.22.