On Thursday in Paris, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif defeated Angela Carini of Italy after Khelif landed several punches. Carini threw in the towel, breaking down, crying in pain, and refusing to shake Khelif’s hand after the bout.

It has been speculated that Khelif was born with a rare disorder of sex development (DSD) that potentially results in her having XY and elevated blood testosterone levels. Due to her condition, she has previously been the subject of controversy in prior international competitions. (Late on Thursday, the International Olympic Committee released a statement on those competitions, claiming boxers were disqualified without due process.)

Despite Khelif not being a transgender individual, anti-trans voices took to X to protest her being allowed to compete in women’s sports. 

Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered. #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/Q5SbKiksXQ

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2024

Others, unsurprisingly, tied the event to political developments in the United States. 

This happens the SAME DAY the Biden-Harris administration’s Title IX rewrite goes into effect in the US

THIS is exactly what it allows for & celebrates. Don’t be surprised or ask “how did we get here?” when this continues to happen at an exponential rate pic.twitter.com/YnlMY0TDCA

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) August 1, 2024

These voices often use the phrase “superior biological advantage” when referring to trans and intersex individuals and those who have a disorder of sex development participating in women’s sports. This is a fair critique and should be a consideration in conversations about competitive categories of sport.

But that isn’t a conversation exclusive to trans athletes.

In her book “Coming Home,” WNBA star Brittney Griner wrote about the painful and intrusive examinations she had to endure as a teenager when her body didn’t develop in the same way as other girls her age. She eventually decided to be comfortable in her own skin and embrace the fact that she was created differently.

Griner is often the subject of hateful and derisive comments about her body and accused of having an unfair biological advantage over other women.

But sometimes, men’s competitors also have superior biological advantages over other men. Michael Phelps, the all-time leader in Olympic medals, was celebrated for his atypical physique. Phelps’ massive wingspan, extra-long torso and flipper-like feet made it nearly impossible for anyone else to compete with him in the pool.

These are all challenging conversations. Sports governing organizations will eventually need to completely reimagine their participation categories.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump made headlines for comments at Wednesday’s National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) annual meeting in Chicago. When asked by Rachel Scott of ABC News to respond to recent allegations from Republican lawmakers accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of being a “DEI hire,” he replied by questioning Harris’ identity.

Trump said, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know. Is she Indian or is she Black?”

A gracious interpretation of Trump’s comments is that, as he nears the end of his eighth decade on earth, he is just now learning that people with different racial identities can have children with each other. A more likely reading, given his history, is that he’s had the comments about Harris’ identity in his back pocket, just waiting for an opportunity to introduce Birtherism 2.0 into political discourse.

Either interpretation reveals an unhinged and deeply troubled man who is unfit to be given any job that requires any level of human interaction.

At worst, Trump’s comments to the NABJ and the outrage over Imane Khelif’s participation are the latest exhibits in our use of artificial categories to otherize and demonize anyone who would threaten our status and power. To cover our hate, we feign ignorance and outrage and pretend to be concerned with “protecting the vulnerable.”

At best, both situations speak to our inability to conceive of a creative God whose imagination is infinitely superior to ours. We have an insatiable need for easy-to-understand, binary categories of everything, including human identity and development.

God is not bound by the same need.

The trajectory of our Christian story is one from exclusion to belonging. The reign of God Christ came to usher in destroyed hierarchies of race, bodies and beliefs. May we learn to lay down our outrage and ignorance and enter the kin-dom that has been prepared for us. 

Author’s Note: An earlier version of this article included speculative information on Khelif’s medical history. As noted in the original version, the IOC has released a statement disputing prior determinations by the IBC.