shameful nonsense - transgender athletes to compete against women under new rules

[sidelined]

UKA have now released a statement saying that they want to make female sports exclusively for people born female, but that they've had legal advice saying that this position is illegal.

https://www.uka.org.uk/news/news-and...-in-athletics/

This is not the view of British Triathlon or a bunch of other lawyers. UKA want the government to amend the 2010 Equality Act to clarify the situation. There's already a petition to Parliament on this point. You can sign it here:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/623243

I'm pleased UKA think female sport should be for females, but I wonder why they haven't noticed that no one has sued British Triathlon.

[Runner88]

WA looking for a new Director of Communications I see…

[drobbie]

im assuming coes plan was to stir up a load of controversy and then go with the open/ women seperate category solution due to public demand , glad that a few higher profile athletes like eilish mcolgan are coming forward now

[Sovietvest]

I sympathise Runner88 with your suspicions that Ellington may hold some unpleasant views and I'm all for a respectful debate. But was what he said in this context really "vile and abusive"? Contrary to what's been alleged on Twitter he did not direct his comments at all trans women, just those seeking an unfair advantage in sport. I think biological female athletes who take testosterone are weasels. I also think Coe has behaved like a weasel. Have I just been vile and abusive or have I used strong language to express how much I hate cheats and the behaviour of a sporting politician?

[Sovietvest]

What astonishes me is that WA, in the leaked consultation document, admit that transwomen retain physiological advantages (surprise, surprise) over females but still say their preferred option is to include transwomen in the female category! That's overt sex discrimination. It's been suggested that WA is terrified of expensive litigation if they don't concede to the trans lobby, but surely if they implement this policy they'd be open to a class action by women?

Agree this is the irony of WA's position - they will certainly end up with legal claims from large numbers of women.

[Sovietvest]

All sports have to decide what is more important: inclusion or fairness. You simply cannot have both. They can no longer pretend that there is any doubt that trans women who have been through male puberty have an advantage over biological females, even after testosterone lowering medication has been taken. WA explicitly acknowledge in the document recently circulated that the advantage cannot be fully removed.

I can totally accept that some people sincerely believe that inclusion is more important than fairness. On that basis they will support the inclusion of trans women in athletics. I personally disagree strongly and think that is an anathema to the concept of sport. What I can't accept is when those in favour of trans women competing in women's event pretend that there is no proven advantage. I think that is disingenuous. I also cannot accept accusations of transphobia when someone speaks up in favour of biological women's right to compete fairly in sport.

[Ladyloz]

Exactly this.

[drobbie]

tom daley his usual moronic self i see

[marra]

I think it is perfectly reasonable to have serious doubts about WA's plans and to worry about the potential harm they will cause to women/women's sport AND also have concerns about the nature of some of the public discourse surrounding trans athletes and the LGBTQ+ community in recent times.

I have a decent amount of time for the position that Eilish outlines here - https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/64460705

[drobbie]

trans women athletes know they are cheating , i tend to agree with the comments

[drobbie]

hes called them weasels as far as i can tell, hardly the crime of the century

[Runner88]

I don’t know how to put all my feelings into words on this issue at the moment and I think athletes like Amelia Strickler are doing the right thing and speaking up and I think - from what I have read so far - doing so in a way that is not hurtful towards trans athletes. But some of the people, views and languages that is being caught up in this is not nice to see.

[Runner88]

James Ellington’s recent tweets are a case in point of vile and abusive language being brought into all of this.

We all want a fair playing field for women in sport but this is getting increasingly ugly.

Think this is all about the female category being protected? Just look at his retweets in support of supposed ‘vulgar’ music videos by from Sam Smith. It’s a slippery slope towards open discrimination towards the LGBTQ+ community and what is considered ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’.

[sidelined]

More power to Amelia's elbow! I got a response to my comments from World Athletics which just said that the proposal is only for consultation and no decision has been made yet. I suggest everyone writes to WA. Link here:

https://www.worldathletics.org/about-iaaf/contact-us

It's probably a good idea to write to UKA too, since they'll be responding to the consultation. I have, but no reply yet...

[LoveSprints1]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/64396740

Hopefully the start of a flood of such responses.

Good for Amelia being brave enough to speak out. Emily Diamond and Jade Lally have publicly supported her. Male and female athletes and non-athletes need to raise their heads above the parapets and just stop this farcical hijacking of women's sport. If male sports and events were threatened, this would not even be discussed. It would have been stamped out immediately. It was bad enough when the Eastern bloc was doping and the number of records taken away from women by drugged women. Now, are we all going to stand by and let TW and DSD athletes (intersex males who at birth presented as female) steal from this generation?