Taxpayer-funded quango hands thousands to group that says: Let transgender women compete in female sport with no medical checks
TRANSGENDER women who were born male should be allowed to compete in female- only sports events without medical checks, according to a group receiving taxpayers’ money to run training sessions for national sporting bodies.
Sport England, a quango that oversees grassroots sport, has paid £ 26,000 to controversial trans lobby group Gendered Intelligence to deliver the sessions to sports associations. Critics last night accused Sport England of introducing new gender policies through Gendered Intelligence. It is due to clarify its official guidance on trans women later this year.
The controversy comes as maleborn trans athletes dominate some women’s sport, including Canadian cyclist Rachel McKinnon, who won a second world title in Manchester last weekend.
One training document produced by Gendered Intelligence – and seen by The Mail on Sunday – urges sporting bodies to ‘challenge’ the idea that trans women who were born male have an ‘unfair advantage’ when they compete against biological women. At present, trans women must undergo tests to prove they have been taking hormone-blocking drugs to reduce their testosterone levels before competing in women’s sport. But the document, entitled ‘A Social Inclusion Model for Trans People in Sport’, asks: ‘Why are we worrying about what medical intervention they may or may not have had? They are a woman, within women’s parameters.’
Gendered Intelligence has previously been criticised for running trans-awareness school workshops for pupils aged as young as four.
Dr Nicola Williams, from the women’s rights pressure group Fair Play For Women, said: ‘Sport England has not yet finalised its guidance on transgender inclusion but is already sneaking it out.’
Gendered Intelligence, which registered as a charity earlier this year, claims to have delivered trans training sessions to more than 16,000 people. Its sport seminars, which have been running since April, claim there is an ‘irrational fear’ of biological males pretending to be trans women to cheat in sport.
It adds that sports need to move from an ‘exclusive’ model where trans athletes have to provide medical evidence before competing in their chosen gender category to an ‘inclusive’ model that ‘assumes everyone can play unless there is a clear, objective reason for them to be excluded’. Cathy Devine, a specialist in sport policy for women, said the advice delivered by Gendered Intelligence may be in breach of the law She said: ‘The Equality Act says that people with the protected characteristic of “gender reassignment” can be excluded from female sport categories for the purposes of fairness and safety.’
A number o f a t hl e t e s have expressed concerns about the inclusion of trans women athletes, arguing it is unfair to other competitors. British cyclist Victoria Hood said: ‘The science is clear and it’s obvious to anyone that trans women have an advantage over women.
‘All of the governing bodies are terrified of a small, aggressive group of people. For taxpayers to be paying for these training sessions is ludicrous.’
A spokesman for Sport England said: ‘Sport England is committed to ensuring that everyone can benefit from the benefits that leading an active life can offer. That’s why we have been working with Gendered Intelligence since April to support the sector to be better equipped to include trans people.’
Gendered Intelligence said: ‘The training we have delivered will allow more trans and non-binary people to access grassroots sports and fitness.’