by Mary Margaret Olahan, the Daily Signal
In a massive win for the movement fighting for the integrity of women’s spaces, an international cycling union has formally banned biological men who “identify” as transgender women from competing in women’s events.
“The meeting of the UCI Management Committee was held following a seminar on the conditions for the participation of transgender athletes in women’s cycling events, organized by the UCI on 21 June, at which the various stakeholders — transgender and cisgender athletes; experts from the scientific, legal and human rights fields; and sporting institutions — were able to present their respective positions,” the Union Cycliste Internationale said in a statement.
“From now on, female transgender athletes who have transitioned after [male] puberty will be prohibited from participating in women’s events on the UCI International Calendar — in all categories — in the various disciplines.”
The move comes as women’s advocates across the globe push back against the intrusion of biological men into women’s spaces.
“[Union Cycliste Internationale] has joined the likes of FINA and World Athletics and prioritized fairness in sport rather than feelings,” said Riley Gaines, who swam against a biologically male athlete, Lia Thomas, and has become a nationally known advocate for preserving the integrity of women’s spaces. “Cycling has been heavily infiltrated with males competing in the women’s division, so this is huge.”
Union Cycliste Internationale announced on Friday that it would not allow biological males in women’s sports even if those men had transitioned after they had gone through puberty (a concession that some sports groups have granted).
The Independent Women’s Forum had led an open petition to UCI and to USA Cycling calling for rules to distinguish between the sexes and to give female cyclists fair chances in competition. The group had also held daily protests against biological males in women’s sports along the course routes of the USA Cycling Women’s Pro Road National Championship.
“In the world of sports,” the petition said, “it is impossible to provide equal opportunities for both sexes without single-sex teams. Women deserve access to fair competition, equal opportunities, training, and victory. Don’t let women cyclists be unseated.”
Another female athlete who was forced to compete against a man, Inga Thompson, said in a statement that she is “enormously pleased to see the UCI has chosen fairness for women athletes.”
“93% of the pro women cyclists did not agree with the transgender woman competing in women’s cycling. The UCI listened to their women and listened to the current science,” said Thompson, a 10-time U.S. national champion, three-time Olympian and two-time podium finisher in the Women’s Tour de France. “Bravo to the UCI.”
“I know this decision was difficult for the UCI,” she said. “We all want transgender athletes to feel welcome in sports. It is enormously important that both women and transgender women have opportunities to succeed in the classification in which they qualify. Every male racer I know is very welcoming of women and transgender women in their sport. Women deserve access to fair competition, equal opportunities, training, and victory. That’s what UCI delivered today.”
Categories: Sports
About time SOMEONE actually did what is right. Any man who “competes” against a woman pretending to be a woman is a cheap lying weirdo and a cheater.
Hey a sports association that has common sense, and a backbone ! How about “women’s” hockey, basketball, weight lifting, and my favorite, are you ready ? boxing ! Can you imagine Mike Tyson “coming out” as a trans boxer ? Rhonda Rousey beware !
Common sense and Justice prevail.It was a long time before women’s sports were able
To be established and be competitive This was a ugly effort to destroy women’s sports .Thank God another step to stop this insanity .
I completely agree with the decision. I completely disagree with the comments here suggesting that there is some kind of “plot” afoot to cheat anybody out of anything.
As the World churns, we have to figure out how to equitably live in it.
Males have equality – they have what is called: MALE’S ATHLETIC TEAMS & MEN’S SPORTS. There is no such thing, except within the minds of deniers of reality (once only very recently referred to as mentally ill persons), as a male transforming into a female or vice-versa. ONLY females possess female genitalia, menstruate, can become pregnant, and breastfeed. Males cannot. There are also fundamental differences in the brains between the two sexes which have evolved over time to ensure survival & propagation of the species. Differences do not equate to one being “superior” or “inferior” to another, they are simply differences that your idea of “equity” can never create. Male persons do NOT belong in female person’s sports, restrooms, or changing facilities. And your president Biden & his radicalized administration along with mainstream media outlets and schools/universities have no business handing out “Woman of the Year” awards or athletic scholarships & placements on women’s sports teams to MEN posing as women; it’s disturbing, it is an abject insult to every female, and it is plain unscientific, unrealistic, and the premise is actually unqualifiedly clinically insane.
Perhaps, if you were so genuinely concerned with populations living “equitably”, you would take on nations and their policies such as in Communist China, India, North Korea, Cuba, & all over much of the Middle East amongst other locales wherein human rights violations are prolific; wherein people are slaughtered in cold blood for practicing religion or owning a Bible, where those Uighurs are enslaved, tortured, and murdered for their faith, where in India women are routinely raped and killed and perpetrators go without prosecution, or where the demoniacal Taliban refuse to allow girls to become educated, women to work, and females to step foot outside without a male escort without being subjected to being beaten to death by this “government” now in control there as Biden and the entire U.N. have allowed it to proliferate once again.
Instead, your teachers or “professors” instruct you to come onto sites such as this to parade as “virtuous” self-righteous know-alls who anonymously scatter broad, generic verbiage to others who have actually faced and fought sexual harassment and discrimination in real-life situations over the course of decades and who know better than do the current up & coming inexperienced generations that the US Constitution & its amendments have long afforded remedy to such inequality in these United States. However, it is this utopian expectation of this “equity” that you chronically spout & parrot about that shall never be achieved precisely & simply because people are different – with varying degrees of intrinsic abilities AND deficiencies in intelligence, athletics, creativity, talents, etc.
Finally, common sense prevails………….
Yes! Common sense must prevail…there is only 2 sexes/genders…male and female, period end of story!
I think the communists have been trying to work on how to live “equitably” but it doesn’t work. We don’t have a perfect country, but we each can do the best that we are able to and progress, compared to many other countries that think that there are only a few people who know what is good for the rest of their country. If someone doesn’t like it here in the U.S., then let them move to a better one!
A sports sanctioning body for a sport which has sex-segregated events has done what has been done for a millenium or so…base the criteria on anatomy. It’s not complicated. Our society generally is fine with having sex segregation in some sports in the interest of competitiveness and safety for women. We have also based the segregation for our changing facilities, multi-user public restrooms and prisons on that same criteria. If it works, dont mess with it. If we wanted to base it on psychology and feewings, then gay men would use the women’s facilities and vice versa, but we know that criteria invites a host of problems SO WE BASE IT ON ANATOMY.
The United States and Canada seem to be the only countries propping up this assault on women (aka biological female adults) and women athletes. The United States is also the largest consumer and producer of crimes against children and human trafficking. The equity and diversity crowd is silent on the matter – were they not the ones screaming “silence is violence” not so long ago? They are funded by modern day slavery and crimes against humanity. Let that sink in.