Don Trump Jr.'s Transphobic Tweet To Blame For Trans Cyclist's Death Threats

Transgender Canadian cyclist Rachel McKinnon keeps receiving death threats on social media and now employs people to scour through her accounts for hate comments after presidential son Donald Trump Jr. blasted her in October for winning a cycling race against other women.

Don Jr. claimed McKinnon won the gold medal for the women's event at the U.C.I. Masters Track Cycling World Championship because she's really a man. Trump Jr. derided McKinnon's victory as "BS" in his tweet to his more than 4.1 million followers, most of them right-wing conservatives. He then claimed her win will "destroy women's sports and everything so many amazing athletes have worked their entire lives to achieve."

In an opinion piece recently by The New York Times, McKinnon revealed a huge spike in the hatred, vileness, abuse and death threats she's received after Don Jr.'s single tweet.

"I’ve seen a huge uptick in the volume of hate mail I’ve received in the weeks since," revealed McKinnon, 37. "I have four people who monitor my Instagram to delete hateful messages; they’ve been overwhelmed by the volume. Twitter is far worse. I’ve received death threats, but I try not to dwell on them."

McKinnon said she's gotten more than 100,000 hateful comments on Twitter.

"People are angry because I’m a transgender woman, and I race in the women’s category."

She also said many people want her to race against men. She said that's impossible because "I’m not allowed. I’m legally female. My birth certificate, passport, driver’s license, U.S. permanent resident card, medical records and my racing license all have an 'F' on them."

The cyclist admits to being baffled by the extent of the hatred and anger unleashed by Don Jr.'s tweet. The president's son said McKinnon's being transgender gives her an unfair advantage over other women competitors. McKinnon wonders how this is possible since she's lost most of the time to the two women who complained about her alleged unfair advantage.

"If you think I have an unfair competitive advantage, consider this: I lose most of my races," she explained. "I won five out of 22 events in 2019; none of those I won were against strong international fields."

She pointed out that Dawn Orwick, who won second place behind her in the masters world championship sprint cycline event, beat her just days earlier in the 500 meter time trial

"In the 12 times I’ve raced against Jennifer Wagner, who finished third to my first place in the sprint event in 2018, she beat me in seven. Wagner has beaten me more times than I’ve beaten her, head-to-head."

McKinnon then asked, "How can I have an unfair advantage over her if she beats me most of the time? And why should my right to compete be contingent on not winning?"

Some people believe McKinnon has an advantage over her fellow competitors because of her size and muscle mass. McKinnon disputes this criticism, saying she must keep her testosterone level low as a prerequisite for her participation in sports competitions like other transgender athletes.

The rift between Wagner and McKinnon began when the latter won the world 200 meter sprint record for women in the 35 to 39 age in October 2018. The next day, McKinnon won the UCI Masters World Track Cycling Championship in the Women's Sprint 35 to 44 age bracket. This win made McKinnon the first transgender world champion in track cycling.

In a time trial in October, McKinnon broke the record for the 200 meter sprint for females aged 34 to 39. This feat saw the cyclist at the receiving end of death threats. Don Jr., only made matters much worse by transphobic tweet.

McKinnon is an associate professor of philosophy at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.