Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, recently weighed in with his thoughts on the two athletes who competed in women’s boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympics despite the fact they both have XY chromosomes.
Earlier this week, Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif both defeated their opponents during their gold medal matches, stoking the ongoing conversation about whether they should have been allowed to compete in the women’s division.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “humans and most other mammals have two sex chromosomes, X and Y, that in combination determine the sex of an individual. Females have two X chromosomes in their cells, while males have one X and one Y.”
Despite their XY chromosomes, neither Yu-ting nor Khelif identify as transgender or intersex, but as women. Both athletes were disqualified at the International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s World Boxing Championships New Delhi 2023 for test results that indicated that they “did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.”
Describing the matter as “one of the most controversial gender issues in modern history,” Mohler shared his views during “The Briefing” on Monday.
“When you have women’s boxing at different weight levels as an official Olympic sport with all the medals and everything else, then you better know who a woman is, and you better know who a woman is not,” said Mohler.
The theologian pointed out that when the human body goes through puberty, especially male puberty, it has “advantages just in terms of structure and skeleton and strength.”
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Mohler went on to say that “skeletal changes in the male body after the process of puberty do not disappear.” Even “if the athlete declares some kind of transgender identity and takes some kind of hormones or hormone blockers, still the bones are the bones and the frame is the frame.” This also includes organs like the “lungs,” Mohler explained, arguing that this would give a swimmer who has XY chromosomes an advantage over a challenger who doesn’t.
“Looking at the case of the boxers…it is clear that in a previous round of competition, both of them failed or were disqualified because of a chromosomal test that almost assuredly indicated they have XY chromosomes,” Mohler said. “That is to say they have a male chromosomal structure.”
However, Mohler added, “in both cases, you had the Olympic authorities with the Olympic committee coming back and saying, ‘No, they are women. They’ve always been women. They have never identified as male.’”
