Trans teen heads to women’s Irish Dancing World Championships amid backlash from parents, competitors

Irish dancing is a highly gendered sport and parents say they can't comprehend how someone with a physical advantage can compete fairly against their daughters, the Daily Signal reports.

"Oh, my gosh. It's going to make me cry," said one mother of a dancer to the outlet.

"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. 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," she added.

The outlet reports that the trans-identified boy won first out of 100 dancers in the U14 2023 Southern Region Oireachtas. The boy competes with the Inis Cairde School of Irish Dance and uses "she/her" pronouns.

"They just look at it as unfair," the mother continued. "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."

Another mother, whose daughter competed against the boy, explained that the dancers felt defeated and questioned the fairness of the competition. Some of the dancers didn't know the winner was a boy until after the competition, the outlet reports.

"My daughter was in absolute tears," she said. "She was like, 'This is so unfair.' I totally agree."

The Irish dancing community fumed after the competition and shared their frustrations on message boards; however; their posts had been deleted by moderators, angering them further.

In a statement to Daily Signal, the Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha, which is the governing body for global competitive Irish step dancing, said that "CLRG is committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment for every child in our Irish dance community."

PJ McCafferty, the Irish Dancing Southern Regional Director, addressed the acceptance of trans-identified competitors ahead of the event due to concerns that had been raised at prior competitions.

"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," said McCafferty.

"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. A dancer must qualify for the specific World Championship competition in which they will dance," he continued. "CLRG controls Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne and the process of qualifying to compete for the CLRG World Championship. The Southern Region is obligated to follow CLRG policy."

"Similarly, entering in the Regional Qualifier competition that corresponds to the gender identity of a dancer is an established precedent for IDTANA competitions, it has been done before including in the IDTANA-Southern Region Oireachtas," McCafferty added.

"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," said McCafferty. "You are expected to respect all the dancers. I wish all the dancers good luck as they finish their preparation for the Oireachtas and safe travels to Dallas Texas."

Concerned that the Irish dance community would designate them as transphobic or hateful if they spoke out for their daughters, a number of the parents of the female dancers also feared that doing so would result in their daughters' suffering.

However, the parents made it clear that their only concern is justice for their dancers, who they believe have no business competing against boys.

"My husband could lose his job," a parent told Daily Signal. "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."

Maggie McKneely, a female dancer who competed in the adult division, spoke to the outlet about the "highly gendered" element to the sport and that it is not fair for boys to be competing against girls due to them having a greater physical advantage.

"Most sports, men and women tend to do the same basic activity, just at very different skill levels, but Irish dance is highly gendered," explained McKneely. "The two sexes wear different shoes, they wear different clothes, they actually have completely different dance styles. They’re really not interchangeable in any way."

"If a boy decides to compete as a girl, he has to learn how to dance like a girl and wear girls' dance shoes," she continued. "So I think it's really ridiculous. It's not fair to the kids. It's certainly not fair to the girls who have to compete against the boy. And it totally undermines what makes Irish dance what it is, the highly gendered aspect of it is a defining feature."

Rowena Ryan, a former Irish dance instructor and competition judge, said: "There's just no getting around the physical differences between men and women."

"When you’re judging competitions between girls and boys, things that you look for are different in a male dancer compared to a female dancer," she said. "So I just don't think it’s fair to have the two competing against another because they are judged on different criteria."

"You can identify as a giraffe if that's what you want to do," she added. "I believe firmly in live and let live. It's when someone else's decisions are then affecting a lot of other people that you then have to sit back and decide what needs to happen. And I'm sorry, but girls need to compete against girls and boys need to compete against boys."