BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) – The World Swimming Authority has effectively banned transgender women from competing in women’s competitions as of Monday.
FINA members widely adopted a new “gender mainstreaming policy” on Sunday that only allows swimmers who have passed the age of 12 to compete in women’s competitions. The organization also proposed an “open competition category”.
“This does not mean that people are encouraged to move to the age of 12. “Scientists say that if you switch after puberty, you have an advantage that is unfair,” said James Pierce, a spokesman for FINA President Hussein al-Musalam.
“They don’t say everyone has to go through the age of 11, that’s ridiculous. You cannot pass this age in most countries and hopefully you will not be encouraged. In principle, what they say is that it is not possible for people who have passed to compete without an advantage. “
Pierce confirmed that there are currently no transgender women competing in elite levels of swimming.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health has just lowered the recommended minimum age for starting hormonal treatment for gender reassignment to 14 and some surgeries to 15 or 17.
FINA’s new 24-page policy also offers a new category of “open competition”. The organization said it was setting up “a new working group that will spend the next six months looking for the most effective ways to create this new category”.
Pierce told the AP that the open race will likely mean more events, but those details still need to be clarified.
“No one knows exactly how this will work. And we need to involve a lot of different people, including transgender athletes, to understand how it will work, “he said. “So there are no details on how this will work. The open category is something that will start to be discussed tomorrow. “
Members voted 71.5% in support of the organization’s extraordinary general congress after hearing presentations from three specialized groups – the Athletes Group, the Science and Medicine Group and the Legal and Human Rights Group – who worked together to shape policy following the recommendations. by the International Olympic Committee last November.
The IOC called for a shift in focus from individual testosterone levels and called for evidence to prove when there was a performance advantage.
FINA’s new “deeply discriminatory, harmful, unscientific” policy is “not in line with the framework (IOC) for justice, inclusion and non-discrimination based on gender identity and gender variation,” said Anne Lieberman of Athlete Ally, a non-profit organization. . advocates for LGBTQ athletes, a statement said.
The eligibility criteria for the women’s category, as set out in the policy, will (will) control the bodies of all women and will not be applicable without seriously violating the privacy and human rights of any athlete wishing to compete in the women’s category, “Lieberman said.
FINA stated that it recognizes that “some individuals and groups may feel uncomfortable with the use of medical and scientific terminology related to gender and gender-related traits (but some use of sensitive terminology is needed to be precise about the characteristics of the sexes, which justify separate competition categories. “
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FINA competition policy for men and women
In March, Leah Thomas went down in United States history as the first transgender woman to win an NCAA 500-yard freestyle championship.
Thomas said on ABC’s Good Morning America last month that he aspired to become an Olympic swimmer. She also challenged those who say there is an unfair biological advantage that destroys the integrity of women’s athletics, saying “trans women are not a threat to women’s sports.”
The University of Pennsylvania did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Thomas.
Dr Alireza Hamidian Jahromi, co-director of the Center for Gender Maintenance Surgery at Temple University Hospitals in Philadelphia, said 12 years was a random age.
“Where did these 12 come from?” He said. “Is this a specific age that everyone must have gone through puberty, because it may not be so.
The age of puberty is different for different people, he said.
Hamidian Jahromi said the transition involves three stages: social, medical, hormone-involving and surgical. “Which of these three do you mean? “Should the patient have had surgery so far, which is almost impossible,” he said.
Other sports are also exploring their rules about transgender athletes.
On Thursday, the cycling governing body updated its eligibility rules for transgender athletes with stricter restrictions, which will force riders to wait longer before they can compete.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) has increased the transition period for low testosterone to two years and reduced the maximum testosterone level. The previous transition period was 12 months, but the UCI said recent research shows that “expected adjustments in muscle mass and muscle strength / power” among athletes who have made the transition from men to women take at least two years.
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Honolulu-based AP journalist Jennifer Sinko Keleher contributed to the report.
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