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Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Sport, Transgender, US News, Olympics, Paralympics
Lucy Devine
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Sport, Transgender, US News, Olympics, Paralympics
The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has made a call on transgender athletes competing in sports.
Just hours after Donald Trump returned to the White House for a second term as president back in January, he signed an executive order recognizing male and female as the only two sexes.
The order states: “Invalidating the true and biological category of 'woman' improperly transforms laws and policies designed to protect sex-based opportunities into laws and policies that undermine them, replacing longstanding, cherished legal rights and values with an identity-based, inchoate social concept.”
The POTUS has previously said that 'the war on women's sports is over' adding: “My administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes.”
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And now the USOPC seems to have essentially barred transgender women from competing in women's sports, writing in a letter that they have a responsibility to 'comply with federal expectations'.
The new policy was marked with a quiet change on the committee's website, meanwhile USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland and President Gene Sykes wrote in a letter: “As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations.
“Our revised policy emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and safe competition environments for women. All National Governing Bodies are required to update their applicable policies in alignment.”
Officials told other governing bodies to 'update' their policies to align with the change.
Meanwhile, following the move, the National Women's Law Center issued a statement, with president and CEO Fatima Goss Graves explaining: “The world is watching with alarm at the loss of freedom and opportunity in our country, especially as the United States is expected to host future Olympic events. The Committee will learn - as so many other institutions have - that there is no benefit in appeasing the endless, shifting, and petulant demands coming out of the White House.”
The CEO continued: “By giving into the political demands, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes. The vagueness of the Committee’s policy will leave athletes unprotected from humiliating sex-testing practices. Athletes will now be subject to intrusive questioning and demands for traumatizing physical exams as they prove they are women enough to play.
“The USOPC should devote its energy to the real and serious disparities harming women athletes: fewer chances to participate across all sports compared to boys and men; worse facilities, coaching, and equipment placing girls and women at greater risk of injury; and endemic sex harassment and assault perpetrated against women athletes.”
Since Trump came back into power, over 20 states have brought in laws barring transgender women from participating in certain sports.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT national hotline at 888-843-4564, available Monday to Friday 4pm-12am ET and 12pm-5pm ET on Saturdays.