There is a growing backlash against men who identify as women taking competitive opportunities and wins from females, as more international organizations move to protect women’s sports and competitions.
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the International Chess Federation and the International Weightlifting Federation have recently instituted new polices protecting women’s divisions – to at least some degree – in their respective events.
Cycling Weekly recently reported:
Female transgender riders who have transitioned after male puberty will be banned from all women’s events on the UCI International Calendar from July 17 – a decision taken by cycling’s governing body following an extraordinary meeting on July 5.
In a statement about the change, UCI said that for international Masters events, “The Men’s category will be renamed Men/Open, and any athlete who does not meet the conditions for participation in women’s events will be admitted without restriction.”
Previously, men could compete as women if their testosterone levels were held below 2.5 nanomoles per liter of plasma for two years. But the UCI Management Committee held “a seminar on the conditions for the participation of transgender athletes in women’s cycling events.” They found that “the state of scientific knowledge” did not confirm that this eliminated “the benefits of testosterone during puberty in men.”
The organization noted that the female category “is considered a protected class” and “that it was necessary to take this measure to protect the female class and ensure equal opportunities.”
The change came after several male cyclists, going back at least four years, took wins, prize money and opportunities from women.
Austin Killips, a man identifying as a woman, won several women’s races earlier this year, including a first-place finish in the Tour of the Gila, a cycling stage race in New Mexico. Killips took $35,000 in prize money for his win.
Killips racing wins, along with others by male athletes, led to protests from female cyclists and athletes, pushing the UCI to reconsider its policies, and leading to this protection for women cyclists.
Similarly, the International Chess Federation also moved to keep women’s chess for females.
According to Mediaite, “The sport’s international governing body – known commonly by its French acronym FIDE – recently updated its handbook to include a slew of guidelines to account for transgender players.”
It’s not complete protection for women’s chess; if a man decides to live and compete as a woman, he must wait until FIDE makes a decision about eligibility, a process which can take up to two years.
Just a few months ago, in April 2023, a male chess player competed as a female. Fox News reported: “Stanley Omondi participated in the Kenya Open Chess Championship dressed as a female in a full niqab and made his way through the tournament.”
Omondi competed under the name “Millicent Awuor.” Officials grew suspicious when this new contestant beat two highly ranked players, didn’t speak during the tournament and wore “masculine footwear.”
“He admitted to his transgression in a letter, saying he had ‘financial needs,’” Fox News stated.
Women can still compete in men’s and open chess events, Mediaite said, explaining:
Women’s events are organized primarily to encourage more women to play chess, as men far outnumber them. There is no inherent advantage that would require separate categories, but a woman has not competed for the World Chess Championship since Judit Polgar in 2005.
On August 13, as previously reported in the Daily Citizen, Anne Andres took first place and set a new Canadian women’s national record, with a combined squat, bench press and deadlift that was 463 pounds more than the second place finisher.
Andres was born male but lives as a woman.
In response, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) warned the Canadian Powerlifting Union that it risked being suspended if it continued to allow Andres to compete. IWF rules state that “male to female transgender” athletes must “transition before completion of puberty” and have a testosterone level below 2.5 nanomoles per liter for 12 months.
Andres clearly has passed through male puberty. And, as powerlifter April Hutchinson shared with the Daily Mail, the Canadian league had no transgender rules in place:
There was no policy. Anyone could walk up. A man could walk in tomorrow, identify “as a girl,” and then just powerlift and then go back to being a man. No testosterone monitoring.
In a scathing opinion piece for the Mail, Hutchinson wrote:
Andres transitioned nearly two decades ago, which means that Andres experienced male puberty and enjoys all the physical advantages associated with it.
Everyone knows this is unethical. But the federation has been too cowardly to do anything because the Canadian government protects “gender identity” from discrimination, alongside race, gender and sexual orientation.
She noted that Andres had ridiculed female powerlifters. Hutchinson wrote:
More women have quit or lost weight in order to qualify for different classes and not lift against Andres. One friend of mine says she’s suffered a mental breakdown after her dreams were crushed.
Cycling, powerlifting and chess aren’t the only groups that are starting to protect women’s competitions. In 2020, Family Policy Alliance announced its campaign to “Save Girls Sports.” North Carolina became the 23rd state to pass this legislation in August 2023, preserving middle school, high school and collegiate girls and women’s sports for biological females.
Also in 2020, World Rugby discovered that women and men are different, and they announced new guidelines protecting “women’s safety and fairness.” And in June 2022, the International Swimming Federation announced a policy protecting women’s sports from male athletes – unless the male “transitioned” to live as a girl before age 12 or beginning puberty, “whichever is later.”
In March 2023, World Athletics, the world governing body for track and field athletics, announced that it would not allow males who have gone through puberty to compete in female athletics competition.
Transgenderism is a false ideology that teaches that “gender” is somehow different from physical sex, what’s in the mind matters more than biological reality, people can change from one sex to the other and there are an infinitude of genders.
It’s good news that international competitive organizations are recognizing none of this is true – and taking action to protect women’s activities.
Related articles and resources:
Focus on the Family: Transgender Resources
International Swimming Federation (Mostly) Protects Women’s Aquatic Sports From Male Athletes
North Carolina Legislature Overrides Vetoes to Protect Children, Parents’ Rights and Women’s Sports
#SaveGirlsSports – New Campaign Launched by Family Policy Alliance
World Athletics Council Limits Women’s Sports to Women – For Now
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