After years of bullying by woke political activists, fairness and common-sense is making a return.

Several sporting codes have quickly followed world swimming body FINA and are now also moving to save girls’ and women’s sport from biological males stealing their opportunities.

The International Rugby League and World Athletics look set to follow suit.

A pall of fear has lifted.

Daily Telegraph sports journalist Paul Kent summed it up well:

Too often now the advocates for this (transgender) ideology weaponise their words, intimidating those who dare speak against them.

They put themselves at risk of being labelled a bigot, in a world where only the accusation needs to be made nowadays.

Anyone involved in the 2017 marriage campaign on the side of man-woman marriage knows that intimidation all too well.

Suggestions that transgender political activism would ramp-up following the de-gendering of marriage were met with ridicule by activists at the time.

But five years on, radical LGBTIQ politics has faced its first serious setback as the public has finally woken up to the fact that not all that sails under the rainbow flag is tolerant, fair or about equality.

It’s certainly not loving of those with a different opinion.

Sydney Morning Herald sports journalist Phil Lutton said many athletes had simply been too afraid to speak out as they watched biological males like American swimmer Lia Thomas crush female competitors in his wake.

With the floodgates of common-sense now sweeping away previously supressed fear resulting in football codes also moving to protect women and girls, rainbow activists are hitting back.

Same-sex marriage activist Anna Brown never laid down her weapons after winning the marriage plebiscite, but kept a well-funded political machine going called “Equality Australia”.

Its main activity has been engaging top tier law firms to go after Christian schools who simply want to uphold a traditional ethic on marriage and teach the science of gender.

Brown this week slammed FINA and rugby league’s decision to protect women and girls, saying:

Blanket bans on women who are trans playing against other women risks violating international human rights principles of non-discrimination, which require such policies to start from a place of inclusion.

Fina failed to meet that standard, and the rugby league’s ban also fails to do so, despite it being temporary.

Brown said banning transgender “women” set a “dangerous precedent”.

But Paul Kent countered:

I would argue the decision allowing transgender women to compete against men is the dangerous precedent. Potentially it could corrupt women’s sport forever.

Brown’s entire argument had little connection to the reality of sport, which is very different to society’s realities.

And in an insight into the fear which has paralysed debate and open discussion, Kent offered this:

Whenever I have asked NRLW players their thoughts on playing against a transgender athlete the response is always the same.

Firstly, they blanch, momentarily pausing for words as a dozen ugly headlines swiftly wash across their faces.

Thankfully that fear has lifted and common-sense is prevailing.

But don’t expect the political activists to go away.

The Royal Children’s Hospital, which runs a gender clinic prescribing controversial and irreversible treatments on children, said banning transgender “women” from women’s sport because they had an advantage over biological women was the same as banning tall people because they had a height advantage.

I kid you not.

Rainbow politics has relied more on people’s fear of being labelled a “bigot” than logic to achieve its aims.

Those days may be coming to an end.

Lyle Shelton is National Director of Family First. Keep up with Family First’s political commentary, sign up today.