Great Britain has decided: transgender female cyclists will have a category among men

It took more than nine months to give birth to the decision, but now the road seems marked. After many meetings, analyses, expert hearings and evaluations, the British Cycling Federation has established that from now on transgender female cyclists will have to compete in men’s competitions. The news comes at the end of a long and tortuous journey during which there were many stops caused by doubts and second thoughts.

The press release issued in recent days establishes the new rules and tries to explain the reasons that led to this decision. According to the new criterion, transgender cyclists will be able to compete in an open category with men, while female races will be reserved for those whose sex was assigned female at birth.

In the chorus of oppositions, the voice of Emily Bridges rises aloud, the best transgender cyclist in the United Kingdom who last year was refused participation in an elite women’s race by the UCI (the World Cycling Federation) despite the analyzes carried out complied with the rules and parameters in force at that time.

Emily Bridges is categorical, calling the new measure “a violent act perpetrated by a failed organization engaged in a culture war”.

The criterion now established by the British Cycling Federation closes an era. In fact, in the past, the same organization had allowed transgender cyclists to compete in women’s events on condition that their testosterone values ​​fell within certain parameters.

Defense of the Federation

Overwhelmed by the attacks and accusations, the Federation has tried to explain the reason for the decision. The latest research studies have indicated that transgender women, even after undergoing testosterone suppression, maintain a performance advantage. Our goal has always been to promote equality, diversity and inclusion, while ensuring fair competition.”

British Cycling’s decision aligns with those made recently by other UK sports federations. Even in athletics, swimming, triathlon and rugby, in fact, transgender British women must participate in men’s competitions.

The World Athletic line

Even the World Athletics Federation had expressed itself in the same way, when last March 23 it made public the news that it had decided to include transgender women in the lists of men’s competitions. «Biology trumps gender», the motivation, «and equity for women comes before inclusion».

But there is no shortage of controversy, and the case of the transgender swimmer comes to light Leah Thomas. Thomas, when he was still Will, floated around the 500th position in the men’s national rankings, but moving on to compete with the women, in a few months she had swept all the competitions to conquer the first place in the women’s national rankings.

Caitlyn Jenner, Olympic champion in the decathlon in Montreal in 1976 when she was Bruce Jenner, also disagrees with Lia Thomas’s new path. “The happiness of an individual like Lia cannot take priority over the undeniable biological fact that she is transsexual and has enormous physical advantages.”