The governing body of world swimming has effectively banned transgender women from competing in women’s events, starting Monday.
FINA members widely adopted a new “gender inclusion policy” on Sunday that only allows swimmers who have made the transition before the age of 12 to compete in women’s events. The organization also proposed an “open competition category.”
“That doesn’t mean people are encouraged to transition at age 12. That’s what scientists say, that if you make the transition after puberty, you have an advantage, which is unfair,” James Pearce , which is the spokesman for FINA President Husain Al-Musallam told The Associated Press.
“They don’t say that everyone should make the transition at 11, that’s ridiculous. You can’t make the transition at that age in most countries and hopefully you don’t dare to do that. it is not feasible for people who have made the transition to compete without an advantage “.
Pearce confirmed that there are currently no transgender women competing in elite levels of swimming.
The World Association for Transgender Health has just lowered the recommended minimum age for starting treatment with gender transition hormones to 14 and some surgeries to 15 or 17.
FINA’s new 24-page policy also includes proposals for a new “open competition” category. The organization said it was creating “a new working group that will spend the next six months looking for the most effective ways to set up this new category.”
Pearce told the AP that open competition would likely mean more events, but those details have yet to be resolved.
“No one knows how this will work. And we need to include a lot of different people, including transgender athletes, to find out how it would work,” he said. “So there are no details on how it would work. The open category is something that will start talking tomorrow.”
In a statement to CBC News, Athlete Ally, an American LGBTQ + sports advocacy group, says the new policy cannot be enforced without violating the privacy and human rights of athletes seeking to compete in the women’s category.
“FINA’s new eligibility criteria for transgender athletes and athletes with intersex variations are deeply discriminatory, harmful, unscientific and not in line with the 2021 International Olympic Committee’s framework on equity, inclusion and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender variation “.
Vote, Thomas’s previous advantage dispute
Members voted in favor of 71.5% at the organization’s extraordinary general convention after hearing presentations from three specialized groups — a sports group, a science and medicine group, and a legal and human rights — who had been working together to shape policy in line with the recommendations. by the International Olympic Committee last November.
The IOC urged to change the focus on individual testosterone levels and call for evidence to show when there was a performance advantage.
FINA said it recognizes “that some individuals and groups may be uncomfortable with the use of sex-related medical and scientific terminology and sex-related traits. [but] It takes a bit of use of sensitive terminology to be precise about the sexual characteristics that justify separate categories of competition. “
In March, Lia Thomas made history in the United States as the first transgender woman to win a 500-yard freestyle NCAA swimming championship.
Thomas told ABC’s “Good Morning America” program last month that he was aiming to become an Olympic swimmer. She also argued those who say she has an unfair biological advantage that ruins the integrity of women’s athletics, saying “trans women are not a threat to women’s sports.”
Thomas did not immediately respond to a message left with the University of Pennsylvania asking for comments.
Dr. Alireza Hamidian Jahromi, co-director of the Philadelphia Temple University Hospital Gender Affirmation Surgery Center, said 12 years is an arbitrary age.
“Where did these 12 come from?” He said. “It’s a specific age that everyone is supposed to have gone through at puberty, because that may not be the case.”
The age of puberty varies for different people, he said.
Hamidian Jahromi said the transition involves three stages: social, hormonal medical and surgical. “Which of these three do you mean? The patient should have had surgery by that time, which is almost impossible,” he said.
Other sports have also been examining its rules around transgender athletes.
On Thursday, the cycling governing body updated its eligibility rules for transgender athletes with stricter limits that will force runners to wait longer before they can compete.
The International Cycling Union (ICU) increased the transition period with low testosterone to two years and reduced the maximum accepted testosterone level. The previous transition period was 12 months, but the ICU said recent scientific studies show that “expected adjustments in muscle mass and muscle strength / power” among athletes who have made a transition from male to female take at least two years.