Should women transgender athletes be able to take part in sporting competitions against cisgender women?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: On August 3, 2021, CBC News: The National televised a report on Laurel Hubbard, the first transgender athlete to compete at an Olympics and on the issues surrounding transgender women athletes.What they said...
There is no conclusive evidence that suggests transgender athletes create an unfair playing field for cisgender athletes, so it is wrong to exclude them from sports at any level'
Editorial, 'The Duquesne Duke', Duquesne University
'Imagine your daughter... is denied a win or a college scholarship - all because she has to compete against boys who identify as girls'
Bianca Stanescu, the mother of a Connecticut cisgendered female college track athlete
The issue at a glance
On September 6, 2021, the Council of Europe (Europe's leading human rights organisation) announced that on September 20 it would stage an international online conference seeking to extend the participation rights of transgender and intersex athletes in sporting competition around the world. This is in part a follow-on from the participation of transgender athletes at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
On August 2, 2021, New Zealander weightlifter Laurel Hubbard become the first openly trans athlete to compete in the Olympics. Hubbard failed on all three of her snatch lifts, eliminating her before the clean and jerk round, and without a valid lift finished at the bottom of the 87 kilogram plus competition. Her presence, however, was part of the debut of transgender athletes gaining selection for Olympic competition.
United States transgender athlete, Chelsea Wolfe, was selected for the US BMX team. Wolfe was selected as an alternate, meaning she made the team but would only compete at the games if two other Team USA athletes were unable to compete in Tokyo.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that it will be reviewing the rules that currently regulate the terms under which transgender athletes are able to compete. Opposition to transgender athletes typically focuses on transgender women where their genetically determined physiological attributes are claimed to give them an unfair advantage. It is disputed whether treatments such as hormone replacement therapy can adequately reduce the advantages transgender athletes are said to have.
The Olympic Committee currently requires that transgender women to declare their gender and not change that assertion for four years, as well as to demonstrate a testosterone level of less than 10 nanomoles per litre for at least one year prior to competition and throughout the period of eligibility.
There are those who maintain these regulations are inadequate. Others claim that any more proscriptive regulations, including a direct ban, would be discriminatory.