It is Transgender Awareness Week, and British Cycling has issued an update on its Transgender and Non-Binary Participation Policy, which was suspended …

By stwhannah

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British Cycling Update on Transgender and Non-Binary Participation Policy

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How do you have non binary participation in a binary sport?

Can’t really see what all the fuss is about myself, we’re only talking about a tiny fraction of society. Let them race.

The way I see it is you only have two real options to be fair to all other participants (the third option would generally see male participants dominant so wouldn’t be fair to everyone else):
– You either enter as the sex you were born as.
– Or you create another division for people who do not want to enter as the sex they were born as.
– Or you only have a single category.

Let them race.

Nobody is being prevented from racing.

I got the update via email, and after reading it three times, I couldn’t work out what the update actually was. Eventually realised that the update is that BC have creating a ‘working group’ or something.

Irrespective of your thoughts on transgender participation in sport, you can always rely on BC to be a bit ineffective at everything – lol

@scotroutes

Not how I read it

transgender and non-binary athletes hoping to apply to race, face a wait until Spring 2023 to find out what the rules will be.

– You either enter as the sex you were born as.
– Or you create another division for people who do not want to enter as the sex they were born as.
– Or you only have a single category.

This is a pretty balanced response. There’s competitive fairness, and participatory fairness – and it appears they are mutually exclusive when considering trans atheletes. Based on how sport is something that we all start from a level playing field, and then train to get better – competitive fairness has to come first.

The additional option would be to change the name of Men’s and Women’s to something gender neutral, and more based on attributes, e.g. Low Testostorone and High Testostorone. Which then bases category on physical capability, and not gender.

At grass roots level I really don’t see an issue. Careers aren’t on the line and ultimately it’s just a bit of fun. Personally I’d still consider the first non trans lady over the line the real winner of such an event, and so would all the ladies at my club. But that doesn’t mean they can’t compete

Non of that applies at the top end of the sport however

The additional option would be to change the name of Men’s and Women’s to something gender neutral, and more based on attributes, e.g. Low Testostorone and High Testostorone. Which then bases category on physical capability, and not gender.

Would that be current testosterone levels or lifetime testosterone levels?

Personally I’d still consider the first non trans lady over the line the real winner of such an event, and so would all the ladies at my club. But that doesn’t mean they can’t compete

Is the point participation or competition? That seems to say for one group it’s one and for another group it’s the other – you can compete as a woman but can’t win as one?

Is the point participation or competition? That seems to say for one group it’s one and for another group it’s the other – you can compete as a woman but can’t win as one?

Not really. They can win the prize on offer if they are first over the line. They will be announced as the winner if they are first over the line. Whether their fellow competitors will view them as the true winner is another matter altogether and will be subject to personal opinion

I think if what trans athletes are really after is not just the right to compete, but the acceptance by fellow competitors and the general population that they are competing on a level playing field, they will be waiting an awful long time.

At grass roots level I really don’t see an issue.

I’d disagree. Our sport already suffers from low levels of female participation. If girls at the grassroot level are discouraged from racing because they don’t have a chance at winning due to a trans competitor dominating their class, I struggle to reconcile that.

I took a step away from racing a few years ago but came back last year. I entered a “grass roots” race to get a reminder of racing. On race day there was a trans woman there. I genuinely had a moment of shock as I met them at the start of a stage. A good 4-5 inches taller than me and significantly larger than me in terms of muscle mass. Unsurprisingly they won their class, their time beat mine on the day, and she continues to win pretty much every every race she enters.

It’s hard to voice an opinion about this. On the one hand I respect anyone’s right to live the life they want to, but on the other hand I do feel that in something like sports, it’s hard to reconcile and I’d say at grass roots it’s even more of a concern

It’s hard to voice an opinion about this.

partly because any one expressing any doubts / does not agree with instant self identification is shouted down, called a bigot, deplatformed

its the nastiest political debate I have ever seen. the behaviour of the “trans activists” is often abhorrent

discussed on here before I explained some doubts some female friends of mine have. I was shouted down and called a bigot.