Riley Gaines comes in support of World Athletics’ decision to exclude transgender women.
Female athletes have been vocal about the unfair and outright competition they have faced with the inclusion of transgender women in their sport. One of the most vocal proponents of banning transgender women in professional female sports is 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines.
Riley Gaines has competed against transgender woman swimmer Lia Thomas and is vehemently against biologically male participants in swimming. Alongside professional cyclist Holly Lavesser, Gaines discussed the latest move of the World Athletics to ban transgender women from their sporting events.
In the Supreme Court amicus brief signed by Gaines, she argues that biologically female athletes are now discriminated against on the basis of their sex when competing against a trans woman. Emphasising more on equality of competition, Gaines puts forward, :This is a matter of basic common sense and basic fairness.”
Riley Gaines comes in support of banning transgender women by World Athletics
The World Athletics, on Thursday, announced its decision not to allow transgender female athletes who have been through male puberty to be considered for world rankings competitions. This decision, however, would have no impact on the current roster of athletes as there are no transgender athletes participating internationally at the given period.
In their statement, the international governing body for track and field events says that this decision was based upon consultation from various stakeholders over two months in this year. These stakeholding bodies include the Global Athletics Coaches Academy, the Athletes’ Commission, the International Olympic Committee(IOC), and various transgender and human rights groups.
Riley Gaines has explained how speaking against such discrimination for assigned females is not anti-trans or exclusionary. She says, “People will often label this as something that’s anti-trans or exclusionary. But in reality, it’s not those things. It’s pro-woman and quite the contrary, it’s inclusive. And we’re including the women who Title IV was created to protect. Of course, Title IV was created to stop discrimination on the basis of sex. But that is not what I faced in my sport. I was very blatantly discriminated on the basis of sex, and we’re seeing that as a common trend around the country of girls of all ages, all sports, all divisions.“
In their decision, World Athletics has also excluded DSD (Differences of Sexual Development) athletes from participation in World Rankings events. According to the governing body, they have more than ten years of research and evidence concluding the physical advantages these athletes have over others in the female category.
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