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| Porth Harlequins Ladies (Kelly, bottom left) |
The BBC News website features a report headlined:
Transgender rugby player playing with 'a smile on my face'
Though the BBC journalist behind it (Ceri Coleman-Phillips) strikes a celebratory tone throughout and is clearly wholly on trans rugby player Kelly Morgan's side (it begins "Kelly Morgan is a trailblazer"), that enthusiasm is far from universally shared.
Many are, in fact, horrified.
Here's The Conservative Woman's Laura Perrins for example:
This piece notes this male rugby player, who is being permitted to play rugby against female players, once “folded an opponent like a deckchair”. This is celebrated. In fact, it’s immoral and shameful.
Here are some extracts from the piece:
- At nearly 6ft she stands out among her team-mates, and club captain Jessica Minty-Madley recounts a time she folded an opponent "like a deckchair".
- ...Kelly, 33, accepts transgender women may have an advantage in terms of size and strength.
- "I do feel guilty, but what can you do?" she says. "I don't go out to hurt anybody. I just want to play rugby."
- And she is proud of her journey, humorously documenting her highs and lows on social media.
- "She's one of us. She comes in, trains hard, plays hard and parties hard with us afterwards."
- "She folded a girl like a deckchair during a game, which was quite funny, but they're still friends."
And here are some of the public's responses to it:
- How did we get the this point, where this is happening and people are pretending it’s not absolutely mad??
- Truly disgusting that this is allowed in any women's sport. They are not women!!!!!!
- How long will it be before an opponent will end up seriously injured - or worse...Then wait for the fall-out...
- BBC celebrating a woman being assaulted.
- Due to mental illness I'll start identifying as a 10 yr old, hopefully then I can "impress" when I play rugby for the local kids team, folding kids like deckchairs! I can now excel in a sport where previously I was nothing special! Bollocks to the other kids.. it's all about me!
- "I do feel guilty, but what can I do? I just want to play Rugby". Easy, don't take the hormones and try out for the men's team.
