Women’s Irish Dancing has become the next competition once dedicated to women that has been taken over by a transgender contestant and parents of the girls who trained so long for the opportunity to advance to the world championships are furious.
At the conclusion of the U14 2023 Southern Region Oireachtas competitions held in Dallas during the first weekend of December, a male contestant had come out on top and will now go on to compete as a girl in the World Irish Dancing Championships.
But some parents were outraged that a boy with a physical advantage was allowed to compete as a girl.
One mother was livid that a boy won a girl’s competition, and said, “my heart breaks for my daughter and the other girls that are having to deal with this. They are too young to have to deal with topics that are going on in society, that are adult topics, that they don’t quite comprehend yet,” the Daily Signal reported.
“They just look at it as unfair,” the woman added. “And it’s really hard to explain to them what’s going on and why they have to accept it. That’s what society’s making them do. As a mom, I want to be an advocate for my daughter. But at the same time, I have to protect my family.”
“My daughter was in absolute tears,” the woman said. “She was like, ‘This is so unfair.’ I totally agree.”
The boy who won the girls’ competition and will go on to compete as a girl in the world competition had in the past competed in the boys category and reportedly ranked 11th in the world in the Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha World Championships in April 2023.
People in the Irish dancing community were upset about the incident and many took to a popular message board to post their thoughts on the matter. But their outrage only grew when board administrators began deleting the posts complaining about the transgender winner, the Daily Signal reported.
Do you support a ban on males competing female competitions?
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The community, though, was forewarned about the issue when Southern Regional Director PJ McCafferty posted a public message to Facebook warning parents that transgender competitors were going to be allowed to compete under their “gender identity.”
“I am aware that there is a great deal of upset in the Southern Region about the CLRG and IDTANA policies that transgender Irish Dancers enter competitions that align with the gender identity of their everyday public life; their academic, workplace, social, and home life,” McCafferty wrote on Nov. 21.
He added that, “Entering and competing in the CLRG World Championship competition that corresponds to the gender identity of the dancer is an established CLRG precedent.”
Then he told upset parents that their point of view will be ignored, saying, “I am writing this post to remind everyone that we teach all the dancers. We advocate for every one of our dancers. We do our very best to be fair to everyone. This situation is not easy for anyone. Not everyone’s point of view or personal interests align. I am asking for your tolerance. You are expected to respect all the dancers.”
He turned off commenting on the message when he posted it to prevent any discussion of his admonition to the dance community about transgender entrants.
That was not the first time McCafferty stood up for transgender dancers. In an Oct. 30 email to the community, he reported that a secret ballot vote on including transgender dancers was held and the motion to give trans contestants full acceptance passed, the Daily Signal added.
Maggie McKneely, who also competed in the adult competition at the Southern Region Oireachtas, thought it was all quite a shame.
“Clearly, the powers that be within Irish dance are more interested in being politically correct than preserving both the dignity of Irish dance and its dancers,” she wrote in her Dec. 7 essay on the issue.
