The British Cycling Federation (British Cycling) announced this Friday that it will ban the participation of transgender women in women’s competitions.
The new rules, which will come into force at the end of this year, will provide that the competition course is divided into two categories: “boar” and “female”.
According to the British cycle, transgender women, transgender men, non-binary individuals and those designated as male at birth will be able to participate in the “open” category.
On the other hand, the category “female” can only assign individuals “female at birth”, as well as transgender people who have not yet started hormone therapy.
In this way, the current “male” category will be inserted into the “open” category in the future, in which individuals assigned to the female sex at birth can also compete, the British federation said today in a report produced after birth. nine month consultative process
British Cycling has suspended its previous competition plan in April 2022 following the controversy created by transgender woman Emily Bridges, who applied to participate in the national championship in the women’s category and was rejected.
Federation CEO Jon Dutton – in custody for a month – today apologized for the delay in adopting a final decision.
The aforementioned consultation process included a large number of athletes and associations and the analysis of scientific research by the chief British cycling doctor, Nigel Jones.
Among other findings, the study indicated that men who enter puberty as male have a “clear performance advantage” that does not completely disappear with the process of testosterone suppression.
The federation’s previous policy allowed transgender athletes to compete in the female category if their testosterone levels were below five nanomoles per liter of blood for 12 months before competition.
Dutton today acknowledged that the issue was “incredibly emotional” and “sometimes divisive”, and said the federation would “regularly” review its policies by monitoring “new research”.
“We spent many months looking at three areas: firstly, consulting with affected athletes and the wider cycling community; secondly, exploring the medical research available in modern times; thirdly, from a legal perspective in regards to the Equality Act.” explained the manager.
Dutton insisted that British Cycling has introduced a plan that addresses all three of these areas to provide “clarity” and “a pathway for any athlete affected”.
