A female skateboarder lost out on first place and a $5k prize due to her transgender competition at the Red Bull Cornerstone

As female athletes are further relegated to the background in the midst of a transgender sports takeover, real women are often bullied into silence and submission. Some women, including skateboarder Taylor Silverman, are brave enough to speak up in spite of the bullying.

While national debates are being held about where and how transgender athletes should compete in athletic competitions, real women are being disadvantaged in sports. The most infamous case of this is perhaps when transgender UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas won multiple competitions, setting numerous records, by competing among women, despite being biologically male.

However, it is not just swimming which is impacted. In the world of skateboarding, several competitions have been won by transgender “women” while actual, disadvantaged women place second. This includes the Red Bull Cornerstone competition in which Taylor Silverman placed second, missing out on the $5 thousand grand prize to transgender skateboarder Lillian Gallagher.

Often times women are bullied into silence and submission in situations such as this, but Silverman refuses to be bullied in such a way as she speaks up for women everywhere.

“My name is Taylor Silverman. I am a female athlete. I have been skateboarding for eleven years and competing for several years. I have been in three different contests with trans women, two of which I placed second,” the post begins.

“I deserve to place first, be acknowledged for my win, and get paid. I reached out to Redbull and was ignored. I am sick of being bullied into silence,” she ends the post powerfully.

While the post has garnered some mixed thoughts, most of the comments and reactions have been supportive.

People–especially women–are tired of transgender athletes disadvantaging others in what should be fair athletic competitions.