The media in Samoa have not been infected with the PC virus that our NZ media have. Reading their take on Hubbard winning gold against a Samoan weight lifter was hilarious if only for its refreshing honesty.
Hubbard moment the biggest and most blatant injustice in Samoa XVI Pacific Games
The truth is this. We just cannot stop thinking about Feagaiga Stowers.
Having been chosen as Samoa’s flag bearer, this Pacific Games was supposed to have been her moment.
This is a young woman who has had to endure tremendous difficulties in her childhood, […] It’s an incredible story.
Indeed, Stowers meteoric rise has proven there is hope for everyone. And she’s done everything possible to be on top of her game, where she deserves to be.
This was until she stepped up on the weightlifting platform on Saturday where her hopes of clinching a Pacific Games gold – and that of a proud nation – were crushed by a fellow competitor, Laurel Hubbard.
The most heartbreaking part of this story is that her kiwi competitor is someone who shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Hubbard had represented New Zealand as Gavin Hubbard in international competitions.
Yes he lifted against people like himself, boys and men that is, where he rightfully belonged. That was until he changed his mind and became a transgender. Many of us know the story. Hubbard’s story is one of many cases, where political correctness has allowed a blatant wrong to be accepted.
[…] But where we have an issue, and where people in positions of power to right this wrong should act immediately, is when Hubbard denies the opportunity for women like Stowers to claim what is rightfully theirs.
[…] Hubbard does not belong in the women’s competition.[…] Hubbard could either step up against the men or the organisers of the Pacific Games, or any competition Hubbard enters, should introduce a new division for transgenders.
We are talking about sports here. One of the values of sport is fairness. We cannot say that allowing a transgender to compete against women is fair. It is grossly unfair for women like Stowers, or all women, for that matter.
This is why we cannot stop thinking about Stowers and how gutted she must have been, at being denied the gold medal in the women’s 87kgs division by Hubbard […] she lost the gold medal by seven kilos to a competitor who technically a man.Ladies and gentlemen, we know what some people would say. In raising this issue, we accept people would call us names such as racist, discriminative, homophobic and what have you. We’re okay with that. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.
But here is the thing, we should insist on the truth. Besides, it is upon the decisions we make today we establish the foundation for tomorrow. We need to think beyond Hubbard, we should be thinking about the precedence that has been set here. What happens when you have 10, 20 or even more transgender athletes wanting to compete against women?[…] We talk a lot about empowering women, this does not empower women. If anything, it is taking power away from them. It is robbing them of what rightfully belongs to them.
samoaobserver