The International Swimming Federation marginalizes transsexual women

The International Swimming Federation became this Sunday the first regulatory body of an Olympic sport that put to a vote the inclusion of transsexual athletes.

Gathered in an extraordinary congress at the Puskas Stadium in Budapest, 71.5% of the representatives of the national federations voted against access to women's competitions for all people who have experienced puberty as a man.

The resolution was based on reports from a scientific committee that determined that hormonal growth during puberty gives men a muscular advantage over women.

The World Association of Coaches gave its endorsement in a statement: "Transgender women often retain physical advantages even when testosterone secretion is suppressed."

The approved eligibility policy document stated that “athletes who have transitioned from men to women (transgender women) will be eligible to compete in the women's categories of FINA competitions and may set world records in the women's category if they can determine , to the comfortable satisfaction of FINA, who have not experienced male puberty anywhere beyond Tanner State 2 or before their 12th birthday.

Specifically, the athlete must provide evidence that 1) she has completed androgen insensitivity;

or 2) are androgen sensitive but have suppressed male puberty before the age of 12, and have continued to maintain testosterone levels below 2.5 nanomoles per liter of plasma ever since.”

Regarding eligibility for men's competitions, an internal FINA poll found that 83% of its members voted in favor of limiting it "exclusively to birth sex".

Despite the outcome of this survey, FINA determined that its admission policy for all official competitions would include all men, including those who had transitioned from women to men.

In an especially conservative provision, compared to other federations, FINA determined that member federations must certify the biological sex of their athletes when registering them for official competitions, as well as when registering their world records.

The president of FINA, the Kuwaiti Husain Al Musallam, defended his equanimity by proposing a third "open" category open to transsexuals without restrictions.

“We must protect the rights of our athletes to compete,” he said, “but we must also protect the fairness of our events, especially in the women's category.

I understand that some trans may not agree.

For this I want to open a working group, so that there are trans categories in important events”.

"Transphobia"

The International Olympic Committee believes that each sport should formulate its own rules on the inclusion of transgender people, depending on the nature of the disciplines in question.

The debate has intensified around the possible physical advantages that transgender men of male origin may have acquired before making their transition to the category of women.

Swimming has been especially sensitive to this phenomenon since Lia Thomas became the first transgender person to win a college championship in the United States.

Thomas, who was born a man and has legal status as a woman, won the 500-yard final and won the title for the University of Pennsylvania in a climate of turmoil.

Labeled as a cheater, she was booed from the roadsteads and singled out by many swimmers.

The Princeton University team filed a complaint with the executive director of the Eastern Universities League, the Ivy League, accusing Thomas of exploiting obvious biological advantages that allowed him to beat swimmers on the Olympic team.

“This undermines half a century of fighting for equal rights for women in sports,” protested the Princeton swimmers.

Harris replied in defense of Thomas, accusing her critics of “transphobia”.

The Lia Thomas case.

They complained to Robin Harris, executive director of the Ivy League Athletic Conference.

The Princeton University swimmers highlighted the biological advantages of ignoring it “undermining” Harris denounced “transphobia”.

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