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Boy who couldn't cut it in male Irish dancing competitions is headed to world's championships — in the girls' category
Dancer at the 2014 World Irish Dance Championship in London, England. Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Boy who couldn't cut it in male Irish dancing competitions is headed to world's championships — in the girls' category

A male Irish dancer who failed to break into the top 10 at the recent Irish Dancing World Championships appears to have found a surefire way to seize first place: claiming to be a girl.

The minor placed 11th when competing against other males in the Irish Dancing Commission's Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne in April. He subsequently changed tack and sexual category, competing earlier this month against girls in Dallas, Texas, at the 2023 Southern Region Oireachtas under-14 solo championship.

Through social constructivist subterfuge, the male dancer — of the Inis Cairde School of Irish Dance of Raleigh, North Carolina — crushed his female rivals in the supposedly sex-segregated competition by hundreds of points, thereby placing first out of 100 dancers and qualifying both for the nationals and world championships.

Whereas the junior transvestite took first place in the girl's under-14 category with 729 points, the score he would have had to beat for first in the boys under 14 category was 900 points.

Ahead of the competition, P.J. McCafferty, southern regional director of the Irish Dance Teacher's Association, said in a Facebook statement — on which comments were disabled — "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."

"Entering and competing in the CLRG World Championship competition that corresponds to the gender identity of the dancer is an established CLRG precedent, it has been done before," wrote McCafferty. "I am asking for your tolerance. You are expected to respect all the dancers."

McCafferty indicated in an Oct. 30 letter that he had convened a meeting of the IDTANA's southern region executive board and successfully proposed that they allow transvestites to compete in the category of their choosin, reported the Daily Signal.

A mother of one of the girls who had to compete with the boy in Texas told the Daily Signal, "Oh, my gosh. It's gong to make me cry."

"I never thought I was going to have to deal with this. And my heart breaks for my daughter and the other girls that are having to deal with this," said the mother. "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 understand yet."

"They just look at it as unfair," continued the mother. "And it's really hard o explain to them what's going on and why they have to accept it. That's what society's making them do."

The Daily Signal indicated neither the boy's dance school nor mother responded to requests for comment.

There are presently two petitions concerning the inclusion of transvestites in Irish dancing competitions, one for and the other against.

The petition against the inclusion of males in the female category, which had netted over 4,100 signatures at the time of publication, states, "While recognizing and celebrating diversity and inclusivity, we believe that maintaining separate categories for transgender individuals and female participants is essential to ensuring fair and equitable competition."

Extra to alluding to men's well-documented physical advantages over women in sports, the petition stresses that "[i]ntroducing transgender individuals into female competitions without thoughtful consideration of these differences may inadvertently create an uneven playing field, potentially discouraging female dancers from participating or achieving their full potential."

The petition in support of having girls compete with physiologically advantaged males states, "transgender dancers who win or see other significant success in Irish dancing competitions do so based on their hard work towards the demanding ideals of our art and sport, just as any dancer, and we celebrate their right to succeed."

One dancer's parent suggested to the Daily Signal that other parents "are absolutely outraged. It's absolutely ridiculous, just like in any other sport, and we're seeing it play out on the national stage in the congressional hearings this week."

The mother of a dancer who is headed to the world championships after competing with the junior transvestite said, "It's totally wrong. It's unfair, especially in Irish dance. A lot of it is just about power and strength. Yes, there is the technique ... but a lot of it also has to do with strength and power and the boy are stronger."

Parents have expressed fear of reprisals should they speak publicly against LGBT activism and unfairness on the dance floor.

The mother whose daughter is headed to the championships said, "I could lose my job. I'm afraid my child might be chastised or, you know, not allowed to compete in other Irish dancing. This is what she loves. This is her passion."

The 2024 All Ireland Championships will take place in February.

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Joseph MacKinnon

Joseph MacKinnon

Joseph MacKinnon is a staff writer for Blaze News.
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