Paralympics Now Letting Trans Athletes Ruin Women’s Sports
Are ‘Team USA’ Americans ready for another year of males competing in paralympic and college women’s sports?Are ‘Team USA’ Americans ready for another year of males competing in paralympic and college women’s sports?Scientists Refute Olympic Committee’s Misguided Policies On ‘Fairness’ And Testosterone Levels
A new published report from international researchers marshals every line of evidence in defense of fairness in women's sports.There’s Nothing Controversial About Bethany Hamilton’s Stand For Women’s Sports
Professional surfer Bethany Hamilton announced she will not participate in the World Surf League if it allows men to compete in the women’s division.American Propagandists At NBC Collude With Propagandists In Communist China To Promote Beijing Olympics
Woke propagandists at NBCUniversal are colluding with TikTok, owned by Communist China's ByteDance, to promote the 2022 Winter Olympics.Transgender female athletes shouldn't be required to reduce testosterone to compete, International Olympic Committee says
The International Olympic Committee said transgender females shouldn't be required to reduce testosterone to compete in sports, Sky News reported.
What are the details?
The IOC's updated guidelines are not legally binding, the outlet said, adding that the organization said it's not in a position to issue broad regulations defining eligibility for every sport and will instead leave such decisions in the hands of individual federations.
"What we are offering to all the international federations is our expertise and a dialogue, rather than jumping to a conclusion," IOC director of the athletes' department Keveh Mehrabi said, Sky News noted.
But where the IOC stands on transgender issues seems pretty clear.
The body's new guidelines say that no athlete should be excluded from competition due to perceived "unfair and disproportionate advantage" as a result of gender, Sky News reported.
Previously transgender female athletes were allowed to compete only if their testosterone levels were below a required limit 12 months before their first competition, the outlet said.
But no longer apparently.
"You don't need to use testosterone [to decide who can compete] at all," IOC medical director Richard Budgett said, according to Sky News.
The IOC also decried sex testing to verify an athlete's gender as "disrespectful" and "potentially harmful" and "invasive," the outlet added.
"We really want to make sure that athletes are not pressured or coerced into making a harmful decision about their bodies," added Magali Martowicz, IOC head of human rights, according to Sky News.
Pushback
Not everyone was in complete agreement with the IOC.
Joanna Harper — visiting fellow for transgender athletic performance at England's Loughborough University — told ESPN that not presuming physical advantages when it comes to transgender females is "problematic for me. There is no doubt that transgender women are on average taller, bigger, and stronger than cisgender women and that these are advantages in many sports."
Laurel Hubbard
Indeed, the IOC's updated guidelines come just months after New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard — a biological male who identifies as female — became the first transgender athlete to compete in the Olympics.
Many critics have said Hubbard's presence is unfair to biologically female weightlifters.
In fact, it was reported in May that some biologically female weightlifters were told to "be quiet" after complaining about Hubbard competing against them.
"We're all about equality for women in sport, but right now that equality is being taken away from us," former Olympic weightlifter Tracey Lambrechs told Australia's 7 News in regard to Hubbard. "I've had female weightlifters come up to me and say, 'What do we do? This isn't fair, what do we do?' Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do because every time we voice it, we get told to be quiet."
International Olympic Committee backs biological male weightlifter who identifies as female competing against women in Tokyo
The International Olympic Committee has backed New Zealand's selection of transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard for the Tokyo Olympics, Reuters reported.
What are the details?
Hubbard, 43, is a biological male who competed in men's weightlifting competitions before transitioning to female in 2013. Hubbard has been competing against women for several years — and that has angered several women's rights groups who say Hubbard's presence represents unfair competition.
But the IOC said over the weekend that under current rules Hubbard can compete, Reuters reported, adding that the rules will be reviewed in the future.
"The rules for qualification have been established by the International Weightlifting Federation before the qualifications started," IOC President Thomas Bach said, according to the outlet. "These rules apply, and you cannot change rules during ongoing competitions."
However, Bach said the rules would be looked at again in the future in order to set new guidelines, Reuters added.
"At the same time the IOC is in an inquiry phase with all different stakeholders ... to review these rules and finally to come up with some guidelines which cannot be rules because this is a question where there is no one-size-fits-all solution," Bach said at a news conference, according to the outlet. "It differs from sport to sport."
More from Reuters:
The IOC had cleared the way in 2015 for transgender athletes to compete at the Games as women, provided their testosterone levels are below 10 nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months before their first competition.
Some scientists have said the guidelines do little to mitigate the biological advantages of those who have gone through puberty as males, such as bone and muscle density.
Supporters of transgender inclusion argue the process of transition decreases that advantage considerably and that physical differences between athletes mean there is never a truly level playing field in sport.
Hubbard is set to become the first transgender athlete to compete at the Games after being selected for the New Zealand team in the women's super-heavyweight 87+kg category, the outlet noted.
More pushback
Opposition to Hubbard competing against women has been considerable:
- NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre said Hubbard should not be permitted to compete in women's events at the Tokyo Games, noting "it's a man competing as a woman. That's unfair!
- A rival weightlifter who was looking to compete in Hubbard's weight category for the Olympics recently said Hubbard's presence is "like a bad joke" to biological female athletes. Anna Van Bellinghen of Belgium told Inside the Games it's widely known that athletes can retain the benefit of taking steroids even years earlier — so therefore "why is it still a question whether two decades, from puberty to the age of 35, with the hormonal system of a man also would give an advantage [in competing against women]?"
- In the wake of Hubbard's rise to prominence, female weightlifters who've complained about Hubbard competing against them allegedly were told to "be quiet" by the sports' powers that be.
Here's Hubbard in action in early 2020:
Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com
thefederalist.com
www.theblaze.com