A recent incident at the Trojan Cup swim meet in Barrie, Ontario, where 50-year-old transgender woman Melody Wiseheart competed against teenage girls, has become a focal point in the ongoing debate about the participation of transgender athletes in female sports.

This event has raised significant concerns about fairness and privacy, resonating deeply with those advocating for the rights and safety of young female athletes.

Melody Wiseheart, a professor at York University, a biological male formerly known as Nicholas Cepeda, has been competing against girls since 2019, the Daily Mail reported.

Her participation in the women’s 1500m freestyle for athletes aged 16 and older, where she placed second, has sparked huge controversy.

In addition parents were very upset over the fear and discomfort experienced by the young athletes who were forced to share a locker room with Wiseheart. Parents reportedly used towels to set up a makeshift tent to protect the girls who had to change in front of Wiseheart.

“The girls were terrified,” one parent telling the Toronto Sun.

Swimming Canada and Swim Ontario, the sanctioning bodies, defended Wiseheart’s participation.

In a statement to the Toronto Sun, they said, “In partnership with Swimming Canada, Swim Ontario has a robust system of policies, procedures, and rules that support our member clubs in providing a competitive experience that is safe, welcoming and inclusive for all participants.”

They emphasized that “Swimming Canada and Swim Ontario believe swimming is for everyone… people of all shapes, sizes, genders, beliefs and backgrounds should have the opportunity to swim to the best of their ability… with the expectation that our registrants treat each other with respect and dignity, and keep our sport environment free from harassment and abuse.”

The realities of this situation are startling. There is no disputing the biological differences between males and females in sports performance by the very makeup of anatomy and physiology creating a completely unfair advantage to the transgender competitor.

Additionally, why is there an event that would even have a category where a 50-year-old would be competing against minors?

And then there is the locker room situation. Not that many years ago, a biological male exposing their genitals to a minor female would have resulted in an indecent exposure arrest. Now we are asking children to not only see but accept as the norm adult genitalia of the opposite biological sex.

The backlash is not isolated to this event. A Seattle high school student, speaking to DailyMail.com, denounced her state’s athletic association, saying, “they just don’t want to compete against her,” referring to a transgender athlete. This sentiment reflects a broader unease among female athletes about competing against transgender women.

The Roanoke College Women’s Swim Team, along with activist Riley Gaines and ICONS, have taken a stand, demanding the NCAA and US Swimming restrict transgender women from competing in female sports.

During an event in October, junior Susanna Price expressed her disillusionment, saying, “This year has been the first year of my life where swimming has been emotionally draining. Knowing that biological men are allowed to compete in sports has been the most disheartening experience of my life.”

Sophomore Carter Satterfield added, “We are calling on the NCAA to protect female athletes and grant us fair sports – in every sport. We are calling on US Swimming to recognize that girls at every level deserve to know they are valuable enough to be given a fair race.”

These incidents, including the case of Lia Thomas, the first trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship competing against Riley Gaines, highlight a growing divide in women’s sports.

While the debate on fairness is well founded, the locker room situation is still a huge issue. At the college level, participants are adults but even then, why do the desires of the transgender outweigh what has traditionally been considered morally, ethically and even legally accepted practices surrounding indecent exposure.

This is not a race or even bigotry issue. It is an issue of preserving rights for biological women on and off the playing field.