(LifeSiteNews) — A gender-confused biological male who claims to be a woman set a Canadian powerlifting record over the weekend despite strong opposition from females in the sport.
The gender-confused person goes by the name of “Anne” Andres, 40, and earlier this year mocked women in the sport in a video posted on Instagram.
This past Sunday, Andres set the national record at a championship in Brandon, Manitoba, at the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s 2023 Western Canadian Championship. Andres outlifted the females in the category by over 200 kilograms, winning first place in the Female Masters Unequipped category, according to Reduxx.
Andres already has set Canadian records in the female division of powerlifting in bench press and deadlift.
There has been pushback by some female powerlifters over Andres’ latest record.
Canadian competitive powerlifter April Hutchinson noted on a recent episode of the Piers Morgan Uncensored show that it has been “very disheartening,” to witness what has been taking place.
“For example, that national record that he broke – athletes have been chasing that for years. And we’re talking top athletes who have been training, and training, and training. It goes to show the advantages, the physiological advantages that a male has over a female, whether it’s muscle mass, bone density, lung capacity. I could go on,” Hutchinson said.
“A lot of women yesterday dropped out of the competition because they knew that Anne would be lifting. They dropped, they quit, they wrote to the federation, and the federation basically did nothing about it.”
Hutchinson also noted that a lot of women pulled out of the competition after learning Andres would be competing.
After the win, Andres boasted on Instagram, writing, “Keep in mind I turned 40 a week ago so suddenly being master 1 is kind of hollow.”
“That in mind, I got every masters record and two unofficial world masters records. I don’t care about records. I care about being there with my friends.”
In March, Kristine Bayntum, who is a powerlifter, described to the National Review what it was like to compete against Andres in a 2019 event.
“I didn’t know at the time, but I suspected that I was competing against a trans-identifying male,” she said.
“When I was on the podium, I got second, then this person came up and spoke, and it was basically a man’s voice.”
Bayntum noted how she was “shocked” after later finding out, not until 2023, that Andres was a biological male, as she had earlier thought Andres might have been a woman on testosterone.
“At the time I was just happy to be there, so I didn’t think much about it,” she noted, adding, “but once I saw the photo this year, I was pretty upset about it.”
Bayntum has been critical of the Canadian Powerlifting Union over a recent policy change enacted in February that allows trans-identifying athletes to compete in any event by simply filling out a form.
There have been on-site protests against transgender athletes competing against women in powerlifting. In February, members and supporters of the International Consortium on Female Sport staged a protest at the 2023 Canadian Powerlifting Championships in Richmond, British Columbia.
Andres has even admitted that biological males have an advantage over natural-born females in powerlifting, saying, “While the science does appear pretty clear that transgender women athletes do appear to have a sustained advantage having gone through male puberty, even after having testosterone-blocking surgery, that’s not the conversation we’re having here.”
Riley Gaines, a conservative activist who is a former University of Kentucky All-American swimmer and is best known for speaking out against men competing against women in sports due to transgender ideology, has blasted Andres in the past. Yesterday, she criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for Canada’s liberal policies toward transgenderism.
“@JustinTrudeau ‘s radical disdain for women (and reality) in effect,” posted Gaines on X (formerly Twitter) with a video.
“Andres’ record is a mediocre lift by a mediocre male powerlifter because the Canadian powerlifting union is discriminating against female athletes,” she noted in her video.
Earlier in the year, Gaines took aim at Andres after the gender-confused male mocked women powerlifters for not being as strong as men.
“Anne Andres (male who identifies and competes as a woman) doesn’t understand why female powerlifters are so ‘bad’ at bench press … well idk Anne, but maybe it’s because you have 20 times more testosterone than them. Just a thought,” Gaines posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Scientific research continues to reaffirm that males have an edge over females in most sports when it comes to their physical capabilities, which are not eliminated by cross-sex hormones.
There have been some athletics governing bodies, such as World Track and Field, that have banned people from participating in categories that do not align with one’s biological sex. Also, others have created special categories for gender-confused athletes.