Anonymous wrote:That article makes me so angry. I realize it's not a novel concept that the media manipulates and spins information to support a narrative but sheesh. This makes it sound like a meet marshal is empowered to enforce the rules. That's like saying an usher at a baseball game can call balls and strikes.
Also still waiting for the OP to acknowledge the fact that the child in question was, in fact, a female. Not that it matters. His behavior was reprehensible regardless. But his lack of response to that fact further demonstrates that this was a stunt to take a stand on an issue. At the expense of a child and a community organization.

Anonymous wrote:For once, a DCUM thread where we all agree.

Anonymous wrote:As someone who was there and knows the backstory. The swimmer in question is a girl. She was born a girl. She was identified at birth (and it's so noted on her birth certificate) that she's a girl. There is no trans issue here.[i] Luis Fernandez conjured up an issue out of thin air. You have a grown man deciding that a 7-year old girl did not look enough like a girl, by examining her swim bottoms.

We don't need that from anyone, let alone a grown man.

I suggest that instead of examining swim suit bottoms, and picking fights with 7 year olds and their families, you focus on your own life, show some humility and grace to those you don't know, give others the benefit of the doubt, and move on, and preferably never again at Woodley Pool.

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Anonymous wrote:Luis, this post has only confirmed for me that you are a creep with a complex. For your wife and children’s sake, I highly suggest you seek out professional counseling before you destroy every aspect of your life. You are on a dangerous course.

And for that poor girl who you humiliated, whoever she is, my heart goes out to her. Whether she is trans or has some other condition that might read like a “bulge” to a pervert with an agenda and a axe to grind. You deserved better, sweetie. You deserve to experience the joy and health benefits of swimming. And you deserved to have more time before grown men started scanning and judging your little body.

+ 1 Thank you. To every young swimmer reading this: you all deserve to swim with joy and abandon without grown men visually inspecting your bodies, for whatever reason. Swim away.

I was listening to a podcast this morning about the Epstein Files, and one of the hosts spoke about the near-universal experience of teenage girls who spend their adolescence trying to outrun sexual assault. Most girls have a story about a grown man who yells at them out a car window, or approaches them on a bus, or at a shop, or even in safe spaces like church or schools.

Now I guess we need to add "creeps doing a transvestigation" to the list of things we worry about for our daughters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luis, this post has only confirmed for me that you are a creep with a complex. For your wife and children’s sake, I highly suggest you seek out professional counseling before you destroy every aspect of your life. You are on a dangerous course.

And for that poor girl who you humiliated, whoever she is, my heart goes out to her. Whether she is trans or has some other condition that might read like a “bulge” to a pervert with an agenda and a axe to grind. You deserved better, sweetie. You deserve to experience the joy and health benefits of swimming. And you deserved to have more time before grown men started scanning and judging your little body.

+ 1 Thank you. To every young swimmer reading this: you all deserve to swim with joy and abandon without grown men visually inspecting your bodies, for whatever reason. Swim away.

Anonymous wrote:What is a marshal's job at a swim meet? Luis admits to reading while he's supposed to be working.

Anonymous wrote:As someone who was there and knows the backstory. The swimmer in question is a girl. She was born a girl. She was identified at birth (and it's so noted on her birth certificate) that she's a girl. There is no trans issue here.[i] Luis Fernandez conjured up an issue out of thin air. You have a grown man deciding that a 7-year old girl did not look enough like a girl, by examining her swim bottoms.

We don't need that from anyone, let alone a grown man.

I suggest that instead of examining swim suit bottoms, and picking fights with 7 year olds and their families, you focus on your own life, show some humility and grace to those you don't know, give others the benefit of the doubt, and move on, and preferably never again at Woodley Pool.

Anonymous wrote:Luis, this post has only confirmed for me that you are a creep with a complex. For your wife and children’s sake, I highly suggest you seek out professional counseling before you destroy every aspect of your life. You are on a dangerous course.

And for that poor girl who you humiliated, whoever she is, my heart goes out to her. Whether she is trans or has some other condition that might read like a “bulge” to a pervert with an agenda and a axe to grind. You deserved better, sweetie. You deserve to experience the joy and health benefits of swimming. And you deserved to have more time before grown men started scanning and judging your little body.

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Anonymous wrote:I feel so horribly for the family of the swimmer at the center of this ridiculous fiasco. Have you ever even considered putting yourself in their shoes?

They have a child who is likely struggling with their identity but also wants to swim. I bet they just want the best for their kid and to help their child grow into a confident happy human who spends their time participating in activities that make them happy and grow their confidence at a time when they may be doubting an awful lot about themselves.

And then comes along a self-righteous, bigoted garbage human who feels that it is his right to publicly tear it all down.

You sir, are the worst kind of a$$hole there is.

Then they should have taken that up with the powers that be to make sure it was ok to bend the rules in a sex segregated event where times mattered. It’s not a free for all based on the whims of a kid to decide who they are on a given day.

Who are you to know whether they did?? It was the opposing team. They very well may have had a discussion with that teams coaches, that seems really likely. That is why self righteous egotistical jerks without all the information don’t need to come in, “scan” children’s bodies, make assumptions, and embarrass children in a mini meet that isn’t even a real competition. That is about pride and politics and nothing else. It was cruel and self centered. As others have said intersex is a medical condition. God forbid this child has that. And if gender dysphoria is what they are struggling with they deserve to be treated like a child and not shamed as well. It is not your place.

I am a new poster and like others Luis, I completely and unequivocally disagree with how you approached this. Under NO circumstances was this an appropriate response in front of a child. If you have an issue or a question of policy bring it up with the adults after the event.

Doesn’t sound like they gave an alert to the participants that it was now a mixed gender event. Shouldn’t the participants know what kind of event they are participating in when they thought they signed up for segregated sex?

Weighing the harm to the child you questioned (whether you were right or wrong about their private parts) versus any potential harms to the kids swimming against that child, no. The meet itself was a mixed-gender event both in terms of participants and spectators; if someone was concerned about being seen in a bathing suit by a member of the opposite sex, they wouldn't have been there. People were not desperately in need of your opinion about the sex of one of the swimmers. An alert is for fire, lightning, improper chemical balance in the pool, someone choking, or other emergencies. "I was staring at a child's crotch and think I saw a bulge" is not an emergency.

That’s not how it works. The events and individual heats shouldn’t suddenly be mixed gender because someone decided to change their entry at the last minute. That’s not fair to the other swimmers. Is there a rule that says you can change or sex or age at the last minute?