Cricket Australia has confirmed that it has no plans to bow to anti-trans rhetoric and exclude transgender athletes from competing in the division that aligns with their gender.
Following in the footsteps of other global sports federations like the International Swimming Federation, World Rugby, World Athletics, and World Cycling, the ICC announced last month that any athlete who had been through male puberty would not be permitted to compete in the international women’s game.
Cricket Australia will remain inclusive to trans athletes, despite the ICC’s new policy. (Paul Kane – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The decision was yet another blow to the few transgender athletes who have repeatedly been blocked from competing in their sport from community to elite levels.
In response to the ICC’s policy change, Cricket Australia has now pledged to keep domestic competitions inclusive of trans athletes.
Speaking to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, Hockley said: “We were really proud in 2019 to put out a leading set of transgender guidelines, both for the community and for elite cricket, and they were based absolutely on the philosophy of inclusion.
“The ICC guidelines go a bit further in terms of it takes quite a scientific approach. We’ve expressed that we think that inclusion is the priority, so we will continue to work with the ICC to express our views.”
Cricket Australia’s transgender guidelines state that transgender women may compete in elite-level domestic women’s competitions if they have maintained testosterone levels of less than 10 nanograms per deciliter for 12 months before being nominated for a team.
Meanwhile, community-level women’s competitions are even more inclusive, and simply require transgender athletes wishing to compete to demonstrate a “commitment that their gender identity is consistent with a gender identity in other aspects of everyday life.”
Hockley noted that, for now, there are no transgender cricketers in Australia hoping to play at an international level, so the ICC’s decision has no direct impact on Australian Cricket.
But that won’t stop Cricket Australia from pushing for more inclusive policies from the ICC.
“I think we need to be really inclusive and we also need to be very mindful of player wellbeing and mental health considerations as well,” he said.
Although Hockley suggests that the ICC’s policy change was based more in science than in inclusivity, there is little-to-no scientific evidence to back up their stance.
That’s despite a lack of scientific evidence to support the claim that transgender women would have an athletic advantage over cisgender women.
For example, a 2023 report from the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport determined that, if existing rules are followed, trans women who have begun testosterone suppression do not have any biomedical advantage over cisgender women in elite sport.
The report also found “strong evidence” that “elite sport policy is made within transmisogynist, misogynoir, racist, geopolitical cultural norms”.
Similarly, a 2017 study from Sports Medicine concluded that there was “no direct or consistent research suggesting transgender female individuals have an athletic advantage at any stage of transition, and therefore, competitive sports politics that place restrictions on transgender people need to be considered and potentially revised.”
Opponents of Connecticut’s policy letting transgender girls compete in girls high school sports will get a second chance to challenge it in court, an appeals court ruled Friday, which revived the case without weighing in on its merits.
Both sides called it a win. The American Civil Liberties Union said it welcomes a chance to defend the rights of the two transgender high school track runners it represents. The Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the four cisgender athletes who brought the lawsuit, also said it looks forward to seeking a ruling on the case’s merits.
In a rare full meeting of all active judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, judges found the cisgender runners have standing to sue and have described injuries that might qualify for monetary damages. The runners also seek to alter certain athletic records, alleging they were deprived of honors and opportunities at elite track-and-field events because they say “male athletes” were permitted to compete against them.
The case had been dismissed by a Connecticut judge in 2021, and that decision was affirmed by three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit a year ago.
At least 20 states have approved a version of a blanket ban on transgender athletes playing on K-12 and collegiate sports teams statewide, but a Biden administration proposal to forbid such outright bans is set to be finalized by March after two delays and much pushback. As proposed, the rule announced in April would establish that blanket bans would violate Title IX, the landmark gender-equity legislation enacted in 1972.
Under the proposal, it would be much more difficult for schools to ban, for example, a transgender girl in elementary school from playing on a girls basketball team. But it would also leave room for schools to develop policies that prohibit trans athletes from playing on more competitive teams if those policies are designed to ensure fairness or prevent sports-related injuries.
In a statement Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation of Connecticut cast the ruling as a victory for the two runners they represent — Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller — noting that the 2nd Circuit wrote that the transgender runners have an “ongoing interest in litigating against any alteration of their public athletic records.”
Roger Brooks, a lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the decision was a victory “not only for the women who have been deprived of medals, potential scholarships, and other athletic opportunities, but for all female athletes across the country.”
In 2020, the Alliance sued on behalf of four athletes — Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, Alanna Smith, and Ashley Nicoletti — over a Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference policy that allows transgender girls to compete in girls’ athletic events.
Three of 15 judges who heard arguments earlier this year fully dissented on Friday, while five other judges dissented to portions of the majority ruling.
In a dissent to the majority ruling, Circuit Judge Denny Chin noted that three of the cisgender athletes alleged that only one track event in their high school careers were affected by the participation of transgender athletes while a fourth athlete alleged that four championship races were affected.
In a footnote, Chin wrote that all four plaintiffs currently compete on collegiate track-and-field teams, some after being awarded scholarships, while neither of the transgender athletes who intervened in the case have competed since high school.
And he pointed out that no one was able to cite any precedent in which a sports governing body retroactively stripped an athlete of accomplishments when the athlete complied with all existing rules and did not cheat or take an illegal substance.
“It is not the business of the federal courts to grant such relief,” Chin said.
Florida officials temporarily barred a transgender student from participating in any of her high school’s sports teams, saying the teenager violated state law by playing on the girls volleyball team.
In a letter sent Tuesday to the unnamed student’s school, Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, officials from the Florida High School Athletic Association said the trans teenager was “declared ineligible to represent any member school” and therefore barred from competing on any school sports team for just under a year.
Officials also placed the South Florida high school on probation for 11 months, fined it $16,500 and mandated that its staff undergo a series of compliance trainings.
The state’s penalties come just a few weeks after the high school’s principal and several other school officials were reassigned after county officials opened an investigation into “allegations of improper student participation in sports,” flagged by an anonymous tipster.
A spokesperson for Broward County Public Schools confirmed Wednesday that the district received the Florida High School Athletic Association’s letter and that its investigation into the matter is ongoing.
Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group which is serving as the trans student’s legal representation, condemned the state’s action’s in a statement Tuesday.
“Today’s determination by the Florida High School Athletics Association does not change the fact that the law preventing transgender girls from playing sports with their peers is unconstitutionally rooted in anti-transgender bias, and the Association’s claim to ensure equal opportunities for student athletes rings hollow,” Jason Starr, a litigation strategist at the HRC, said in the statement. “The reckless indifference to the wellbeing of our client and her family, and all transgender students across the State, will not be ignored.”
Through the HRC, the trans student and her parents, Jessica and Gary Norton, declined to comment. The student’s mother did, however, issue a statement last week suggesting county officials outed her daughter by launching the investigation.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, signed a law in 2021 barring trans girls and women from competing on female sports teams in public schools. About half of the country’s states have similar laws restricting trans athletes’ ability to participate in school sports. A representative for the Florida governor’s office directed NBC News’ request for comment to the state’s Education Department.
The department did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment, but in a social media post Tuesday, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. commended the association’s decision to penalize the high school and the trans athlete and the state law that led to those actions.
“Thanks to @GovRonDeSantis, Florida passed legislation to protect girls’ sports and we will not tolerate any school that violates this law,” he said in a post on X. “We applaud the swift action taken by the @FHSAA to ensure there are serious consequences for this illegal behavior.”
The trans student at the center of Monarch High School’s sports controversy and her parents filed a suit over the sports law in 2021 against DeSantis, the Broward County School Board and several other Florida officials. The family argued that the state law violated Title IX, a landmark civil rights law that prevents sex-based discrimination at both public and private schools that receive funding from the federal government. A federal judge denied the family’s challenge to the law last month.
Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, a transgender teen at the center of a legal battle over transgender participation in West Virginia sports, after a hearing in Richmond, Va., on Friday. Shuran Huang for NBC News
Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, sat in a courtroom Friday morning while lawyers argued over a law in her home state of West Virginia that would ban her from running on the girls’ cross-country and track teams at her middle school.
The hearing in front of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was the most recent update in her more than two-year legal battle, which began in May 2021, when she was 11, a month after West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed a bill that bars transgender girls from playing on girls sports teams in middle school, high school and college.
The appeals court will decide whether the law will take effect, and its decision could also start a chain of events that could land Becky’s case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Becky has been allowed to run on her school’s cross country team and throw discus and shot put on the track and field team since the appeals court reinstated a previous injunction against the law in February. The state of West Virginia appealed that verdict to the Supreme Court, which in April rejected reinstating the ban during the lawsuit.
Becky Pepper-Jackson and her mother, Heather Jackson, after a hearing in Richmond, Va., on Friday. Shuran Huang for NBC News
Becky’s mom, Heather, said Becky will often stay late at track and field practice. Sometimes she’ll even practice discus and shot put in their backyard in the rain.
“She likes to do the best in everything, be it algebra or running or shot put or discus,” Heather said. “She tries to excel in everything that she does, just like any other kid.”
Becky said she’s continued her fight after all this time because she loves playing sports.
“I want to keep going because this is something I love to do, and I’m not just going to give it up,” she said. “This is something I truly love, and I’m not going to give up for anything.”
‘It shouldn’t be that hard to be a kid’
Running has always been a family sport for Becky. She has run with her mom and her two brothers since she was a small child, though her running routine has changed slightly since one of her brothers went to high school and Heather is waiting on a knee replacement.
In the meantime, Becky, who is in eighth grade, has thrown herself into discus and shot put. She said she does two types of training for it. Sometimes, she works on her form while throwing lighter or bigger discs or spheres. Most of the time, she said she and her teammates go into what’s called “the pit,” and they get to throw with the high school students. She said she likes how discus and shot put are “polar opposites.”
“With shot put, it’s more like just throw it really hard and hope for the best. You have to be really aggressive,” Becky said. “But in discus, it’s very graceful and all about speed instead, which is what I like best about it.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va.Shuran Huang for NBC News
West Virginia was among the first states to restrict some or all trans student athletes from playing on school sports teams consistent with their gender identities. Just days after Justice signed the bill in April 2021, he was unable to provide an example of a trans student athlete in the state trying to gain an unfair advantage.
Rather, Justice relied on his experience as a sports coach to justify the law. “I coach a girls’ basketball team, and I can tell you that we all know what an absolute advantage boys would have playing against girls,” he told MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle at the time.
Heather said she and Becky decided to file the lawsuit because, “if she didn’t start the fight, who’s going to?”
She said their lives haven’t changed much over the last two years, though they are more aware of their surroundings when they’re out in public, since their photos are online and some people might recognize them.
“At school, her friends still treat her exactly the same, her teachers treat her exactly the same,” Heather said. “She’s just a regular kid that just wants to play, so that hasn’t changed at all.”
Ahead of the hearing Friday, Heather said they were hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, jokes with her mother, Heather Jackson, outside court. Shuran Huang for NBC News
“We don’t like to be in the spotlight,” Heather said. “We’re just country people from West Virginia, so it’s a little overwhelming. I’m nervous for her, because I know what joy she gets from doing her sports, and every kid needs sports. It’s just a moral foundation they need to get. They learn responsibility, they learn camaraderie, they learn that people depend on them. And I see how much fun she has.”
In the last three years, 23 states in addition to West Virginia have passed similar restrictions on trans student athletes, with many of their supporters making arguments similar to Justice — that trans girls have an inherent advantage over cisgender girls, or those who aren’t transgender. Courts have temporarily blocked laws in West Virginia, Idaho and Arizona. A court has also permanently blocked Montana’s law as it applies to colleges, but not for K-12 schools.
Becky said it’s been “disappointing” to watch state after state pass trans athlete restrictions during her lawsuit. Heather said she gets upset “because it seems to be the issue du jour.”
“Politicians are out there fighting for votes, and they just jump on a bandwagon without ever researching it for themselves, when if people would just do their own research, the biology and the science is out there to prove what we’re looking for,” Heather said. “We just want to be accepted, and she just wants to be a kid. It shouldn’t be that hard to be a kid.”
An ‘equal and fair playing field’
The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, which are representing Becky, argue that West Virginia’s law is discriminatory and violates Title IX, a federal law that protects students from sex-based discrimination, and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
During Friday’s hearing in front of the 4th Circuit, Becky’s lawyer, Joshua Block of the ACLU, said Becky has received puberty-blocking medication, which has prevented her from going through testosterone-driven puberty and receiving any potential physical advantage. West Virginia’s law, he argued, “goes out of its way to select criteria that do not create athletic advantage but do a perfect job of accomplishing the function of excluding transgender students based on their transgender status.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va.Shuran Huang for NBC News
The law “could have been drafted to actually adopt criteria that are relevant to athletic performance, but it doesn’t,” Block argued. “It picks criteria that define being transgender.”
Lindsay See, the solicitor general for West Virginia, argued that the district court, in ruling in favor of the law, “got it right that sports is a uniquely strong case for differences rooted in biology and call for sex-based distinctions to help ensure an equal and fair playing field.”
See also noted that experts for both the state and the plaintiff established that there is at least a slight inherent physical difference between trans girls and cisgender girls even prior to puberty. This, See argued, justifies the law. However, Block argued in rebuttal that the state’s expert conceded that any differences before puberty are “minimal.”
Block estimated that the court could release its decision in the next three to six months.
“We really hope that the judges were able to recognize this for what it was, which was discrimination against trans girls solely based on the fact that they’re trans,” he said in a phone call after Friday’s hearing.
Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, and her mother, Heather Jackson.Shuran Huang for NBC News
Regardless of how the court decides, an appeal is almost guaranteed. Whichever party does appeal will have the opportunity to appeal to the entire 4th Circuit or to the Supreme Court. The ACLU is also litigating a similar law in Idaho and is awaiting a decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Depending on the outcome, that case could also be appealed to the high court.
One of the 4th Circuit judges acknowledged the stakes of the outcome at the end of Friday’s hearing.
“I want to thank all counsel for their arguments today, realizing we’re probably only a waystation on the way to the Supreme Court,” Judge G. Steven Agee said.
“The experiences of non-binary youth in organized team sports in Canada have been drastically understudied,” said researcher Martha Gumprich.
A new study has determined that a vast majority of non-binary youths in Canada now avoid joining sports teams over discrimination fears. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“Our report found that many youths avoid team sports due to abuse and discrimination but there are some solutions that would make sport more inclusive for non-binary participants and benefit everyone.”
Two-thirds of non-binary youths surveyed said that their reasoning for not joining an organised sports team boiled down to rules that would force them to play on a binary-gendered (men’s or women’s) team.
Meanwhile, four out of five non-binary youths said that they had avoided joining an organised team sport because of the layout of changing rooms or locker rooms.
Half of those surveyed said that they had avoided organised sports teams because of the teammates and coaches. Similarly, half opted not to take part because of discriminatory comments they had witnessed.
Half opted not to take part because of discriminatory comments they had witnessed. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Finally, one in six non-binary youths avoided organised sport because they had witnessed someone being physically harassed because of their gender.
Compared to their US neighbours, Canada hasn’t been too strict with restricting trans or non-binary people from their chosen sport – though there is plenty of grey area for athletes and teams to navigate.
A star player on Canada’s Women’s World Cup 2023 team was a non-binary athlete.
Footballer Quinn has also made history as the first out trans, non-binary athlete to win an Olympic medal, after taking home the gold for Canada at the Tokyo Games.
Meanwhile, in the US, 23 states have passed laws that restrict transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming athletes’ participation in organised sports – particularly school sports – in the past three years alone.
This can have serious repercussions on gender non-conforming youth, who are excluded – voluntarily or not – from team sports that help to build, not just a players’ athletic abilities, but their social skills, team-building abilities, and leadership and problem-solving skills.
Quinn is using their platform and football talent to help the next generation of footballers. (Getty)
Alongside their findings, TransConnect and Simon Fraser University researchers offer a number of possible solutions to these concerns that would encourage non-binary athletes to participate in sports again.
Those solutions include: allowing non-binary participants to choose the gendered team they’d like to play on, offering co-ed team options or dividing teams by competitiveness, creating gender-neutral changing areas with single stalls, and offering better education on diverse genders and sexualities.
“Participation in physical activities, particularly activities with the sociality of team sports, is a key part of preventative health measures,” said Simon Fraser University’s health sciences assistant professor Travis Salway.
“Non-binary youth deserve the same opportunity to participate in team sports as everyone else.”
The Gay Games XI 2023 open this weekend in Hong Kong and Guadalajara, Mexico. Hong Kong was scheduled for 2017 before the global pandemic, and Guadalajara was selected in 2022 to allow for more athletes to compete. The 2023 Gay Games will be the first time the event has been hosted in Asia or Latin America. The Games have been criticized for the selection of Hong Kong due to its record on LGBTQ+ and human rights.
Primarily organized in 1982 by former Olympian Dr. Tom Wadell and others as the Gay Olympics, the event was forced to change its name to the Gay Games following a landmark copyright infringement lawsuit by the U.S. Olympic Committee that was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Each city is expected to host over 2,000 participants from up to 45 countries and territories.
“Not only have we been able to introduce the games to the region, we have the highest number of participants ever from Asia join the Gay Games in its 41-year history,” Alan Lang, the Gay Games co-chair, said at a press conference earlier today according to Reuters.
The choice of Hong Kong for the Games met with criticism from detractors from a variety of sources. LGBTQ+ and human rights advocates questioned the wisdom of holding the games in the city. While same-sex sexual relations are legal and a recent Supreme Court decision gave some legal rights to same-sex couples, Equaldex notes that Hong Kong does not recognize marriage equality and has no anti-discrimination laws protecting the LGBTQ+ community.
Taiwan chose not to participate in the Games, fearing the arrest of their athletes by Chinese authorities.
“The main reason … this time is that the safety of Taiwanese players cannot be guaranteed,” said Yang Chih-chun, of Taiwan’s Gay Sports and Movement Association, Reuters reported.
A group of 20 Hong Kong residents filed a legislative petition in opposition to the Games, saying they promoted “sexual indulgence” and undermined traditional values, according to the Hong Kong Free Press.
“Organizing the Gay Games is inviting trouble and threatening national security,” a statement from the petitioners read. “By infiltrating our culture, education, and legal systems, there is an attempt to undermine ethical values surrounding gender, marriage, and family and carry out a color revolution.”
The 2023 Gay Games XI continue through November 11.
LGBTQ+ football fans have reacted with shock to the news that Saudi Arabia will host the men’s football World Cup in 2034, after Australia chose not to bid for the tournament.
Saudi Arabia’s relationship with football has been the source of controversy in recent months, with many fans and pundits accusing the nation of using sportswashing to hide its long list of human rights violations.
On Tuesday (31 October), mere hours before the deadline for declarations of interest, Football Australia released a statement in which it said that, after considering “all factors” following the success of the women’s World Cup – hosted jointly with New Zealand early this year – it would not bid to hold the men’s competition in 11 years’ time.
That left Saudi Arabia as the only nation to confirm interest in staging the tournament.
LGBTQ+ fans of were quick to criticise the decision, with the Middle East Kingdom known to be openly hostile to LGBTQ+ people while also having a poor human rights record.
Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia, with the death penalty among the punishments for those found to have engaged in same-sex acts. In addition, LGBTQ+ topics are censored and it is illegal to be trans because Sharia Law prohibits what it describes as crossdressing.
Alongside this, the country has been heavily criticised for carrying out mass executions, abusing activists, attacking and silencing freedom of speech and having a lack of women’s and migrants’ rights.
In a sarcastic post on X, previously known as Twitter, Jack Murley, the host of the BBC’s LGBT Sports Podcast, noted the similarities between 2018 and 2022 tournament hosts Russia and Qatar respectively and Saudi Arabia, all of which have restrictive laws relating to being LGBTQ+
“Good to see football moving in the right direction, eh,” he wrote.
Jon Holmes, the founder of Sports Media LGBT+ and editor at OutSports, said: “Eleven years to go til the Saudi World Cup. Eleven years of trying to talk constructively about global warming, human rights abuses, capital punishment, migrant workers and the criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people, and then to be told by the people with influence to focus on the football’.”
The Proud Sky Blues, Coventry City’s LGBTQ+ supporters group, wrote: “#FIFA showing their true colours once again. They do not care about human rights or inclusivity. They care only about one thing: cha-ching.”
One fan wrote: “Another anti-LGBTQ+ country hosting the football World Cup. David Beckham and Jordan Henderson must be looking forward to making more money from being such great allies.”
In recent months, a number of top players have joined the Saudi Pro League for eye-watering amounts of money, including Cristiano Ronaldo, former Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema and ex-Liverpool captain Henderson.
In particular, Henderson, who has been a strong ally of the community, faced an intense backlash from LGBTQ+ fans for moving to a nation where being LGBTQ+ is illegal and seen as immoral.
While at Liverpool, Henderson advocated for LGBTQ+ inclusion and was nominated as a football ally at the LGBT+ Awards in 2021, backed Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign and last year said he was “proud” to support the initiative and “football is for everyone”.
His £12 million ($14.5 million) transfer to Al-Ettifaq was criticised by fan groups, with Pride in Football saying the move was “disappointing”, adding that the England international had “lost the respect of so many people who valued and trusted [him]”.
NBA player Dwight Howard was apparently outed in a lawsuit by a male model claiming the former finals champion and future Hall of Famer sexually assaulted him over two years ago during a threesome at Howard’s Atlanta-area home.
Stephen Harper filed a lawsuit claiming Howard and a second man presenting as female forced him to engage in sexual conduct against his will on July 19, 2021. Howard admits to engaging in a sex act with Harper and a third man but claims it was consensual, and he has chosen to fight the charges in court. Howard posted a video that did not address the specifics of the lawsuit but instead told viewers his private life is his own and not the business of the media or the public.
According to the lawsuit, the two men met virtually in late May of 2021 over Instagram and later arranged to meet via text messaging in July when their schedules permitted. Some of the messages were included as exhibits in the lawsuit, and they show discussions of a sexual nature and the exchange of apparently explicit media. In his response filed with the court, Howard disputes some details, often on a legal basis, but generally confirms many of the allegations regarding how the two men met and the nature of their text message conversations.
Harper claims he was en route to Howard’s home for a one-on-one hookup when Howard texted proposing a threesome. Harper says he declined. In his response, Howard claims Harper had consented to the threesome in advance of arriving at Howard’s home that evening.
A screen shot of the messages provided to The Advocate shows Howard and Harper discussing a possible threesome, but there is no screen shot provided showing Harper either consenting or refusing to provide consent to the proposed sex act.
“U wanna have a 3some?” asks the participant identified as Howard.
“with who lol & is that what u want? Harper responds.
“A dude lol. Or a girl lol. Then [sic] can’t come till after 4,” the participant identified as Howard reportedly responds.
Harper says Howard was alone when he arrived, except for his son, who was asleep in his bedroom. Harper says the pair went to Howard’s bedroom, where they undressed, crawled into bed, and over the next 45 minutes or so engaged in consensual kissing while watching television.
Harper claims Howard was texting while in bed, excused himself after a short time, and returned with a third man named Kitty Sankofa who was presenting as a woman. He says Howard said he and Kitty occasionally engaged in threesomes. Harper says he again refused consent to a threesome but alleges in his suit that he felt overpowered and in fear of physical harm if he refused.
Howard claims he has no recollection of texting but denies that Harper was surprised by the arrival of a third person to join in a sex act.
Harper says Howard “became angry” and declared Harper was “going to do” whatever Howard told him to do and that Harper was “going to like it.” Harper alleges that Howard grabbed his head and forced him to perform oral sex on him while Howard was anally penetrated by Kitty. Harper also claims Howard refused to let him take an Uber home but instead held him against his will and would not let him leave until he consented to letting Kitty drive him home. In his response, Howard denies the encounter was nonconsensual and denies holding Harper against his will at any point.
In his lawsuit, Harper is alleging assault and battery, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He is seeking punitive damages plus legal expenses as well as a jury trial.
Harper filed a report with the Gwinett Police Department nearly a full year after the incident, a copy of which was obtained by RadarOnline. The allegations mirror much of what is alleged in the current lawsuit. The case was dropped by police after Harper failed to show up for an in-person interview.
Howard’s attorney, Justin Bailey of Goede, DeBoest & Cross, spoke with The Advocate and denied any wrongdoing by his client, instead claiming Harper is attempting to profit from the encounter.
“What was a private consensual encounter was made public for profit and Mr. Howard looks forward to bringing the truth to light in a court of law,” Bailey said on behalf of Howard in a statement provided to The Advocate.“The allegations against Mr. Howard are contested. Mr. Howard intends to present the truth. The truth is Mr. Howard blocked Mr. Harper on social media and then was confronted with two options — pay to protect his reputation or have a fabricated story made public. Despite being an easy target due to the subject matter and his status as a celebrity, Mr. Howard chose to trust in the justice system and will rely on all future court filings to speak for themselves.”
Izmaylova provided The Advocate with a statement saying that Harper did not consent to the threesome and that Howard’s denials were not unexpected.
“It has come to my attention that Mr. Howard is now attempting to label my client’s filing of this lawsuit as an act of extortion, which is absolutely false,” Izmaylova said in a statement provided to The Advocate. “Mr. Harper is exercising his legal rights, in accordance with Georgia law, and seeking redress for the unlawful acts he endured.”
While denying any wrongdoing on his part, Howard has confirmed that he was involved in a same-sex sexual encounter with two other men. In effect, Howard outed himself, but it remains unclear exactly what that means because he has adamantly refused to clarify or further discuss his sexual identity, preferences, or behavior. In a recent video posted to social media, Howard characterized those who sought to publicize his private personal behavior as “nosy” and “weird” and, in effect, told people to mind their own business.
“Why the hell do you or anybody care who the hell I spend my time with. That’s a problem with y’all, people. Y’all worried about who people spend they time with,” Howard said in the video. “Whatever I’m doing in my bedroom is my damn business. Whatever you doing in your bedroom is your damn business. That ain’t for everybody and everybody don’t need to know. You ain’t got to say anything about what you doing in your fucking house. It’s your house. You ain’t got to explain that to nobody no matter what they say. They can say anything. Who gives two shits?”
“Y’all too damn nosy, worried about what I’m doing in my bed. Hell, the people who know what going on in my bed, they know what the hell going on with my bed and what the hell I do in it,” Howard continued in the video. “That ain’t for everybody on the internet. That ain’t for no blogs. That ain’t for no websites. I don’t got to tell nobody where I put my wood at since y’all want to get to it. That ain’t nobody business where I put my shit at. Y’all just weird. If you want to know what people doing in their bedroom and who they messing with and sleeping with, you are weird. You’re the weird one.”
News of the lawsuit has led some in the media to suggest insider word of a potential suit scared NBA teams away from signing Howard after the 2020-2021 NBA season, only a season removed from winning a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. The bombastic sports personality Stephen A. Smith said he had long suspected there was a reason Howard remained unsigned following his last season in the league with the Atlanta Hawks.
“There’s got to be an explanation why that brother ain’t on an NBA roster because he’s got the body of an Adonis. He’s in constant elite physical condition,” Smith recalled of his thoughts at the time on his most recent podcast of The Stephen A. Smith Show, adding, “You trying to tell me definitively that the Golden State Warriors couldn’t use Dwight Howard? … You trying to tell me that they couldn’t use a big body who blocks shots and defends and who can run the floor and finish at the basket in terms of dunking? … Come on, y’all, come on. It’s got to be something else.”
Howard played last year with the Taoyuan Leopards of the T1 League in Taiwan, where he led the league in rebounding and was selected to the T1 League All-Defensive First Team despite missing numerous games due to injury.
USA Cycling has updated its trans athlete participation policy, segregating trans athletes who wish to compete across domestic races in the US into two new categories.
The governing body for cycling in the United States has updated its policy, aligning itself with standards set by the world cycling governing body, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).
From July this year, all trans women who have transitioned after puberty arebanned from competing in the women’s category at UCI-sanctioned events.
Trans athletes competing in USA Cycling events will be categorised as either Group A or Group B athletes, depending on their discipline and race category.
Group A refers to those wishing to compete domestically in the pro and categories one and two on the road, track and in cyclocross, as well as pro category in mountain bike and all categories across BMX.
Group B athletes are those wanting to compete domestically in categories three, four, and five and novice in road, track and cyclocross racing, and categories one, two, and three in mountain bike, according to Cycling News.
USA Cycling CEO Brendan Quirk said the new policy, which is set to begin from 1 January 2024, was guided by a prioritisation of “the balance between fairness and inclusion”.
Under UCA Cycling-sanctioned events, the new guidelines stipulate that Group A athletes must complete an “elite athlete fairness evaluation application” for review by an independent medical panel.
The process requires documentation showing that the athlete’s testosterone level in serum has been below 2.5 nmol/L for at least 24 months. This test must be completed 90 days prior to the first day of the race the athlete wants to participate in.
Group B athletes must complete a “self identity verification request” for review by the USA Cycling technical director, in order to document their change in gender. This must be completed 30 days prior to the first day of the race the athlete wants to participate in.
Quirk said: “Our work encompassed a study of the UCI’s most recent review of the latest scientific literature, an assessment of the US legal environment and similar policies from other sports organisations, and outreach to our athletes, club and team managers, and event organisers.
“As US law and scientific findings evolve, we will use this as an opportunity to do further review and revisions of this policy as needed.”
The Union Cycliste Internationale said it’s policy on trans athletes is “based on the latest scientific knowledge” after facing backlash over Austin Killips winning a stage of the Tour of the Gila women’s race, in April.
I am writing this shortly after being released from “house arrest” in Mumbai, India. I came here, where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is meeting, to lobby them against awarding the 2036 Olympics to a homophobic regime.
Some of the world’s leading anti-LGBTQIA tyrannies are bidding to stage the games, including Qatar, China, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt and Hungary. Giving any of them the Olympics would not be consistent with an event the IOC claims will “celebrate humanity.”
I thought India was a democracy but I was wrong. The day after I arrived in Mumbai, six police officers turned up at my hotel and placed me under “preventative detention” in my room. I was not allowed to leave, not even to get food and water. Four police were posted guard to prevent me from leaving. Only after the intervention of the British Foreign Office was the “house arrest” order lifted. But I am still banned from “protesting, lobbying, leafleting or holding a press conference” about the anti-LGBTQIA policies of key countries seeking to host the 2036 Olympics.
2036 is the 100th anniversary of 1936 Olympics — staged by a homophobic, anti-Semitic Nazi dictatorship. There is a real risk that 2036 will echo those shameful fascist games.
Just look at the line-up of likely or confirmed bidders. They all criminalize homosexuality or otherwise abuse LGBTQIA human rights — and variously also violate the rights of women, refugees, workers, atheists and ethnic and religious minorities.
The stated and probable contenders for the 2036 Olympics include:
Doha, Qatar
LGBTQIA Qataris suffer street harassment by police, online entrapment, imprisonment, torture and so-called “honor” killing; as well as abusive state-backed conversion treatments. These fake “cures” not long ago resulted in at least one gay Qatari committing suicide. The media depict stereotyped, cliched and demonizing caricatures of LGBTQIAs. Women and migrant workers are treated as second- and third-class citizens.
New Administrative Capital, Egypt
Vague “morality” charges are used to prosecute LGBTQIA people, female social media influencers and rape survivors who speak out. Police exploit dating apps to lure gay and bisexual men to rendezvous and then arrest and jail them — often after torture and blackmail to force them to name other LGBTQIAs. Waving a rainbow flag can get you imprisoned. Protests are brutally suppressed.
Chengdu-Chongqing, China
Repression is increasing against the LGBTQIA community, with the forced closure of LGBTQIA centers and WeChat groups. The state has ordered TV to be cleansed of so-called “effeminate” men. Lesbian and trans women are under further pressure as a result of the new gender law which requires women to “respect and obey … family values.” Over a million Uyghur Muslims, some of them LGBTQIA, have been interned without trial and subjected to forced “re-education.” In Hong Kong, China’s draconian national security legislation is systematically dismantling the city’s freedoms.
Istanbul, Turkey
The government harasses critics and jails political opponents, including LGBTQIAs like Cihan Erdal. Pride parades are regularly banned and violently attacked by the police, with many participants arrested and beaten. President Erdogan has labelled the LGBTQIA community as “deviants.” He’s vowed to defend the traditional family and to combat what he calls “perverse” social trends. His regime is terrorizing the Kurdish minority with armed raids on Kurdish villages and the bombing of Kurdish regions in northern Syria. LGBTQIAs are among the many victims of this anti-Kurdish terror campaign.
Nusantara, Indonesia
Indonesia enacted a new criminal code in 2022 that violates international human rights standards. Marginalized social groups — including women, LGBTQIAs and religious and ethnic minorities — are often ill-treated with no redress. Gay venues are raided by police. Homosexuality is outlawed in the provinces of South Sumatra and Aceh (where LGBTQIAs can also be publicly caned.) A 2008 anti-pornography law has been manipulated to prosecute gay and bisexual men. The military is accused of a slow genocide in occupied West Papua. Tens of thousands indigenous people have been massacred.
Budapest, Hungary
The prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has decried what he calls the EU’s pro-LGBTQIA “offensive.” His government has ended the legal recognition of trans people and banned so-called “homosexual and transgender propaganda” that could be seen by under 18s. Discrimination against LGBTQIA people, women and Roma persists, mostly unchecked. Same-sex couples and individuals are barred from adopting children. Pushbacks against migrants and refugees continue, with LGBTQIA people fleeing persecution almost never granted asylum.
The IOC should not grant any of these countries the prize of the 2036 Olympics. LGBTQIA freedom and other human rights must be prioritized over profits, glitz and showmanship. If it colludes with the contending homophobic regimes, the IOC will betray the LGBTQIA victims of oppression and tarnish its own reputation.
Hosting the Olympics is a privilege, not a right. It comes with obligations and these must include adherence to international and IOC human rights standards. No country should be rewarded for despotism — or for homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersexphobia.
The IOC Congress in Mumbai will be a success only if it agrees that the Olympics will never again be awarded to an authoritarian regime that tramples on human rights — no matter how much cash and how many promises they flash at the IOC delegates.
The Olympic motto is “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.” Now is the time to add “Diverse, Free, Equal – Together.” Over to you, IOC.
Peter Tatchell is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation. Netflix is currently streaming “Hating Peter Tatchell” about his 56 years of human rights and LGBTQIA campaigning.
