FGG Reaction to the Unilateral Ban on Transwomen Competing in Athletics

As with the decision by Swimming’s governing sport body FINA and then by World Rugby (WRU), the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) condemns in the strongest possible terms the decision by World Athletics that has chosen to ban transgender women from competing in the female category at international events.

Even with the 17 studies cited by anti trans activists, like Sharron Davies MBE, that show that transwomen will always have some advantage over cisgender women because of having gone through male puberty, the previous rules had always allowed women to compete as long as they reached a certain level of testosterone in the body. For the past eight years, that rule has been successfully implemented with no issues at all.

There have been so few transwomen, two in fact out of 88,000 women competing at that level in Athletics. That means the studies used are not able to determine whether that advantage is significant. Even it was, there would need to be such a large influx of trans women athletes to make any significant difference. This is simply a decision taken by World Athletics to discriminate and exclude transwomen, which the FGG wholly opposes.

The FGG reinforces its message of inclusion for all trans and non-binary athletes and artists for cultural events at the Gay Games. They will be able to participate or attend in their chosen gender, and there will be support and encouragement based are our three key founding values of Participation, Personal Best and above all Inclusion for our trans and non-binary siblings.

We look forward to trans and non-binary participation in November 2023 at our co-hosted Gay Games 11 in Guadalajara and Hong Kong. If you haven’t yet registered, please go to https://gaygames.org where you can click on either city’s logo to learn more and register today.

Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett FGG

Vice President of External Relations