Record-holding boxer Imane Khelif has been making a storm the past couple of weeks after baseless speculation about her assigned-at-birth gender. Now she’s suing the people who have been spreading these rumors.
RelatedImane Khelif is well within her right to sue
In a statement posted on X, Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, said in French: “Having just won a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, boxer Imane Khelif has decided to lead a new fight: that of justice, dignity and honor. Ms. Khelif contacted the firm, which filed a complaint yesterday for acts of aggravated cyber harassment with the anti-online hatred center of the Paris public prosecutor’s office.”
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Khelif has dealt with transphobic, misogynistic, and racist attacks from the likes of former President Donald Trump and the notorious TERF, JK Rowling. The complaint is still pending, however it’ll likely brought to light sometime within the coming days.
People have also noticed that Rowling has been especially silent on X the past few days in light of this lawsuit.
“no jk rowling tweets in four days,” said one post.
“JK Rowling has been unusually quiet for the last few days,” said another from trans activist Alejandra Caraballo while posting a picture of an article about the pending lawsuit.
After years of TERFs harassing trans folks online, Khelif’s lawsuit could be the thing to bring everything to a head.
Khelif also spoke out against these attacks publicly, saying, “That also gives my success a special taste because of those attacks. … We are in the Olympics to perform as athletes, and I hope that we will not see any similar attacks in future Olympics.”