Female transgender athletes who transitioned after male puberty will no longer be able to compete in women’s races, world cycling governing body the UCI said Friday.
The decision came after American rider Austin Killips became the first openly transgender woman to win an official cycling event earlier this year.
“From now on, female transgender athletes who have transitioned after (male) puberty will be prohibited from participating in women’s events on the UCI International Calendar — in all categories — in the various disciplines,” the international federation said in a statement.
The UCI said the ban, starting on Monday, was necessary to “ensure equal opportunities.”
Killips rode to victory in the fifth stage of the Tour of the Gila, one of the marquee U.S. stage races. Her victory provoked a negative reaction by some cycling fans and former racers despite the 27-year-old athlete having adhered to a policy put in place by the UCI last year requiring transgender athletes to have serum testosterone levels of 2.5 nanomoles per liter or less for at least 24 months before competing in women’s events.
The UCI said Friday it “has taken note of the state of scientific knowledge, which does not confirm that at least two years of gender-affirming hormone therapy with a target plasma testosterone concentration of 2.5 nmol/L is sufficient to completely eliminate the benefits of testosterone during puberty in men.”
It also noted the difficulty to “draw precise conclusions about the effects” of gender-confirming hormone therapy.
“Given the current state of scientific knowledge, it is also impossible to rule out the possibility that biomechanical factors such as the shape and arrangement of the bones in their limbs may constitute a lasting advantage for female transgender athletes,” the UCI added.
Despite the ban, UCI president David Lappartient said “the UCI would like to reaffirm that cycling — as a competitive sport, leisure activity or means of transport — is open to everyone, including transgender people, whom we encourage like everyone else to take part in our sport.
It also noted the difficulty to “draw precise conclusions about the effects” of gender-confirming hormone therapy.
“Given the current state of scientific knowledge, it is also impossible to rule out the possibility that biomechanical factors such as the shape and arrangement of the bones in their limbs may constitute a lasting advantage for female transgender athletes,” the UCI added.
Despite the ban, UCI president David Lappartient said “the UCI would like to reaffirm that cycling — as a competitive sport, leisure activity or means of transport — is open to everyone, including transgender people, whom we encourage like everyone else to take part in our sport.
Champion runner Caster Semenya won a potentially landmark legal victory on Tuesday when the European Court of Human Rights decided she was discriminated against by sports rules that force her to medically reduce her natural hormone levels to compete in major competitions.
The ruling by the Strasbourg, France-based court questioned the “validity” of the contentious international athletics regulations in that they infringed Semenya’s human rights.
But the two-time Olympic champion’s first legal success after two failed appeals in sports’ highest court and the Swiss supreme court came with a major caveat. Amid her bid to be allowed to run again without restriction and go for another gold at next year’s Olympics in Paris, Tuesday’s judgment, while major, did not immediately result in the rules being dropped.
That might still take years.
The South African athlete’s challenge against the testosterone rules began in 2018.
It has gone from the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to the Swiss supreme court and now the European rights court. The 4-3 ruling in Semenya’s favor by a panel of human rights judges merely opened the way for the Swiss supreme court to reconsider its decision.
That might result in the case going back to CAS in Lausanne. And only then might the highly controversial rules enforced by World Athletics be possibly removed.
The 32-year-old Semenya, who has been barred by the rules from running in her favorite 800-meter race since 2019 and has lost four years of her career at her peak, has only 13 months until Paris.
In a statement soon after the European rights court’s decision was published, World Athletics showed no sign of budging and said its rules would “remain in place.”
“We remain of the view that the … regulations are a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of protecting fair competition in the female category as the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Swiss Federal Tribunal both found,” World Athletics said.
World Athletics also said it would be “encouraging” the government of Switzerland to appeal the ruling. Switzerland was the respondent in the case because Semenya was challenging her last legal loss in the Swiss supreme court. Switzerland’s government has three months to appeal.
The Swiss government was also ordered to pay Semenya 60,000 euros ($66,000) for costs and expenses.
There was no immediate reaction from Semenya or her lawyers in South Africa.
While Semenya has been at the center of the highly emotive issue of sex eligibility in sports and is the issue’s figurehead in challenging the rules, she is not the only athlete affected. At least three other Olympic medalists have also been impacted by the rules that set limits on the level of natural testosterone female athletes may have if they want to compete. World Athletics says there are “a number” of other elite athletes who fall under the regulations.
There are no testosterone limits in place for male athletes.
Semenya’s case is not the same as the debate over transgender women who have transitioned from male to female being allowed to compete in sports, although the two issues do have crossover.
Semenya was identified as female at birth, raised as a girl and has been legally identified as female her whole life. She has one of a number of conditions known as differences in sex development, or DSDs, which cause naturally high testosterone that is in the typical male range.
Semenya says her high natural testosterone should be considered a genetic gift in the same way as a basketballer’s height or a swimmer’s long arms.
While track authorities can’t challenge Semenya’s legal gender, they say her condition includes her having the typical male XY chromosome pattern and physical traits that make her “biologically male,” an assertion that has enraged Semenya. World Athletics says Semenya’s testosterone levels give her an athletic advantage that is comparable to a man competing in women’s events and there needs to be rules to address that.
To do that, track has enforced rules since 2019 that require athletes like Semenya to artificially reduce their testosterone to below a specific mark, which is measured through the amount of testosterone recorded in their blood. They can do that by taking daily contraceptive pills, having hormone-blocking injections, or undergoing surgery under the rules. If athletes choose one of the first two options, they would effectively need to do it for their entire careers to remain eligible to compete regularly.
Semenya has railed against the regulations, and refused to follow them since 2019, saying they discriminated against her because of her condition.
On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights agreed. It also found for Semenya on another point of her appeal, that she wasn’t given “effective remedy” against that discrimination when the Court of Arbitration for Sports and the Swiss supreme court both denied her appeals.
There were “serious questions as to the validity” of the testosterone rules, the court said, including with any side effects of the hormone treatment athletes would have to undergo, the difficulties in them remaining within the rules by trying to control their natural hormone levels, and the “lack of evidence” that their high natural testosterone actually gave them an advantage anyway.
That last point struck at the heart of the regulations, which World Athletics has always said is about dealing with the unfair sports advantage Semenya has over other women.
The European rights court also found Semenya’s second legal appeal against the rules at the Swiss supreme court should have led to “a thorough institutional and procedural review” of the rules, but that did not happen.
The rules have been made stricter since Semenya launched her case at the European rights court, with World Athletics announcing in March that athletes would have to reduce their testosterone level to an even lower mark. The updated regulations also apply to every event and not just Semenya’s favored range between 400 meters and one mile, which they did previously.
Lesbian soccer legend Megan Rapinoe said in a press conference Saturday that she plans to retire at the end of 2023, which means the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which starts later this month, will be her last one.
Rapinoe has been a fixture on the U.S. women’s soccer team since she joined it in 2006. The 38-year-old made the comments during an appearance ahead of a U.S. game against Wales in California, The New York Times reports.
“I could have just never imagined where this beautiful game would have taken me,” Rapinoe said. “I feel so honored to have represented this country, this federation for so many years.”
She added, “It’s truly been the greatest thing I’ve ever done.”
The Times notes that Rapinoe has had several injuries while playing for the national team.
The player has been a vocal activist for LGBTQ+ rights and pay equity.
Soccer star and teammate Alex Morgan said, according to the Times, that Rapinoe texted the team’s group chat letting them know about her decision.
“Well, now we have to win the whole damn thing,” Morgan said.
Earlier this year, the athlete was named one of Time’s 12 Women of the Year this year. She dedicated her win to transgender people.
“I am only here because of them,” Rapinoe said at the Women of the Year gala, held at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in March, Timereports. “We all know what’s going on in our country with the attempted erasure of trans people.”
“The way they refuse to live their life any other way than completely whole is so inspiring. I’m inspired by the invitation to be completely myself,” Rapinoe said. “They offer us a full view of what it means to be a human in the world. A whole opportunity to be the crazy-ass human beings that we are. That’s a great gift.”
Wimbledon 2023 is officially underway – weather permitting – but despite the All England Club’s all-white rule, there are a handful of out gay players offering some vital rainbow LGBTQ+ representation at tennis’s most prestigious tournament.
Since the days of trailblazing gay Grand Slam champions Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, women’s tennis has long provided some of the biggest LGBTQ+ names in sport – and there are currently several players Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour carrying that torch for a new generation.
However, the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) isn’t currently just lagging behind, it’s yet to even cross the starting line: There are currently no out gay players on the men’s tour and no professional male tennis player has come out publicly in the Open Era while still playing the game.
American former world number 57 Brian Vahaly came out publicly as gay in 2017, a decade after retiring from the sport, and shed light on some of the barriers faced by gay male players.
American former world number 57 Brian Vahaly came out publicly as gay in 2017, a decade after retiring from tennis. (Matthew Stockman/Getty)
“I heard homophobic comments all the time in the locker room – to my face, behind my back. That was just a part of the culture”, he told The Telegraph in 2018.
In 2022, men’s top 10 player and former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Taylor said he believedan out gay male player would be “accepted” on the tour, but as Wimbledon rolls around for another, the wait goes on.
In the meantime, here’s a run-down of the out gay women’s players to look out for in the Wimbledon 2023 main draws – as well as a few others who aren’t making an appearance at SW19 this year, but are still representing for the LGBTQ+ community on the tour.
Out LGBTQ+ tennis players competing at Wimbledon 2023
Daria Kasatkina
Russia’s Daria Kasatkina says she’s unable to return home as a gay person who opposes the invasion of Ukraine. (Robert Prange/Getty Images)
Russian tennis star Daria Kasatkina became the highest-profile out gay tennis star on the WTA tour when she came out publicly in July 2022.
The 26-year-old, who has a career-high ranking of number eight and reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2018, confirmed her relationship with Olympic figure skater Natalia Zabiiako via Instagram.
In the year since, Kasatkina has been an outspoken critic of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and anti-gay political culture – even if it’s come at great personal cost.
“It’s unsafe for me now, with the regime we have. As a gay person who opposes the war, it’s not possible to go back,” she told The Times in July 2023. “But I don’t regret it even 1 per cent.”
She went on: “When the war started and everything turned to hell, I felt very overwhelmed and I just decided, “F*** it all”. I couldn’t hide any more. I wanted to say my position on the war and my [sexuality], which was tough, coming from a country where being gay is not accepted, but it felt like I had a backpack of stones on my shoulders and I just had to throw it off.
“Afterwards, I faced a few consequences, but the only thing that worried me was my parents, and they were fine. They are proud of me.”
Nadia Podoroska
Former French Open semi-finalist Nadia Podoroska came out publicly in October 2022. (Tim Clayton/Getty)
Argentinian tennis player Nadia Podoroska came out publicly in October 2022.
In an Instagram post, the former French Open semi-finalist – who has been ranked as high as number 36 in the world – confirmed her relationship with fellow Argentinian tennis player Guillermina Naya.
Shared on Naya’s 26th birthday, Podoroska’s post consisted of images of the couple hugging and kissing, with the caption: “Today I celebrate you from afar, but I feel you by my side every day of my life.”
Podoroska was congratulated on her announcement by former women’s world number one and LGBTQ+ trailblazer Billie Jean King, who tweeted: “Living authentically takes such courage, but is always worth it.”
Greet Minnen
Belgium’s Greet Minnen was in a high-profile relationship with fellow player Alison Van Uytvanck until 2021. (Benoit Doppagne/Getty )
Belgium’s former world number 69 Greet Minnen was in a high-profile relationship with fellow Belgian tennis star Alison Van Uytvanck until late 2021.
In 2019, Minnen and Van Uytvanck became the first same-sex couple in history to play doubles together at Wimbledon, reaching the second round.
Minnen’s public coming out took place at the tournament the year before, when Van Uytvanck rushed over to kiss her in the stands after defeating then-defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round.
Minnen and Van Uytvanck announced their engagement in December 2020 before going their separate ways the following year.
Other LGBTQ+ tennis players who aren’t competing at Wimbledon in 2023
Demi Schuurs
Dutch player Demi Schuurs is a doubles specialist and out gay woman. (Matthew Stockman/Getty)
Dutch doubles specialist Demi Schuurs has a career-high doubles ranking of number 7 and has reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open as well as the quarter-finals of Wimbledon and the US Open in doubles.
Schuurs came out as gay as a teenager and has stated her desire to be a role model for young LGBTQ+ people.
She told the WTA in 2020: “I think that’s really nice to be able to support younger fans who may be going through the same things I did. I remember the feelings I had when I came out, so I want to help younger people understand that they should be how they want to be, and show what they want to show.
“You only live once, so you have to be happy and don’t need to stress about being gay or not.
Alison Van Uytvanck
Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ tennis players. (Clive Brunskill/Getty)
Belgian former world number 37 Alison Van Uytvanck has been one of the most vocal champions of LGBTQ+ visibility on the WTA tour since her relationship with countrywoman Greet Minnen was thrust into the spotlight in 2018.
The former French Open quarter-finalist, who is now engaged to Emilie Vermeiren after splitting with Minnen in late 2021, told The Guardian in 2019 that she would like to see more support for LGBTQ+ tennis players.
“I think people would have more confidence”, she said at the time. “That would be something good, men would appreciate that. More people would come out – it would help to make it easier.”
Argentina’s Guillermina Naya achieved a career-high ranking of 533 in 2020 and has won two titles on the ITF Cicuit – the tier of tournaments below the WTA tour.
Naya’s relationship with Argentinian player Nadia Podoroska was confirmed by Podoroska in October 2022.
Out gay British player Tara Moore is a former world 145 player in singles and former top 100 player in doubles.
She has been inactive on the professional circuit since the summer of 2022 after being provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
Moore rote on Twitter at the time: “I have never knowingly taken a banned substance in my career. I am investigating how the positive result could have occurred and look forward to proving that I am a clean athlete.”
“I am deeply saddened by the provisional suspension and hope to be back on the court as soon as possible.”
Moore is currently in a relationship with American player and former doubles partner Emina Bektas. She was previously engaged to Swiss player Conny Perrin.
Emina Bektas is a 30-year-old American player who is currently in a relationship with British player Tara Moore.
Bektas achieved a career-high ranking of 139 in the summer of 2023, but lost out on a place in the Wimbledon 2023 main draw after being knocked out in the first round of the qualifying tournament.
Conny Perrin
Switzerland’s Conny Perrin has a career-high ranking of 134. (Justin Setterfield/Getty)
Swiss player Conny Perrin has been ranked as high as 134 in the world and was previously engaged to British player Tara Moore.
In 2017, Perrin told the New York Times that dating a fellow tennis player had benefits, saying: “It’s different when you date someone else who doesn’t really understand tennis and all the traveling and stuff like that.
“We understand that of course we need to travel sometimes apart.”
The National Hockey League (NHL), the highest level professional ice hockey league representing 32 North American teams, has banned teams from wearing Pride-themed warm-up jerseys during the teams’ LGBTQ+-inclusive Pride nights.
The NHL’s ban will also forbid teams from wearing jerseys commemorating military veterans, people with cancer, and others. The league’s decision comes during Pride Month and barely a week after Major League Baseball (MLB) announced a similar ban.
When a gay couple was shown kissing in the stadium, he said “That’s disgusting. Security, get rid of them.”
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman recently talk to Sportsnet about the rainbow-colored jerseys and how some players have refused to wear them.
“It’s become a distraction,” Bettman said. “And taking away from the fact that all of our clubs host nights in honor of various groups or causes, and we’d rather they continue to get the appropriate attention they deserve and not be a distraction.”
Bettman noted that NHL teams will still host Pride nights; players just won’t wear rainbow-colored jerseys during those nights.
Bettman’s “distraction” comment may reference instances like what happened last January when Philadelphia Flyers’ player Ivan Provorov refused to take part in his team’s Pride Night warm-up session because he didn’t want to wear a rainbow-colored jersey. He said the jersey violated his Russian Orthodox Christian beliefs.
In March, James Reimer, a goalie with the San Jose Sharks, declined to wear his team’s Pride jersey for the same reason. Players with the Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers have refused to wear the jerseys as well.
In a statement against the new policy, You Can Play, an organization opposing queerphobia in sports, said that they were “concerned and disappointed” by the new policy.
“Today’s decision means that the over 95% of players who chose to wear a Pride jersey to support the community will now not get an opportunity to do so. Pride nights will continue and we look forward to further enhancing the programming these opportunities bring to the mission of inclusion and belonging for the 2SLGBTQ+ community given this restriction,” the organization said.
Hockey commentator Gord Miller criticized the decision on Twitter, writing, “In addition to the LGBTQ+ community, people with cancer, members of the military and their families, black and indigenous people will be among those who will no longer be visibly recognized before games.”
In March, Luke Prokop, the only out gay athlete ever to play under an NHL contract, said“It’s disheartening to see some teams no longer wearing [Pride jerseys] or embracing their significance, while the focus of others has become about the players who aren’t participating rather than the meaning of the night itself.”
Prokop said that Pride Nights and Pride jerseys play an important part in “promoting and respecting inclusion for the LGBTQIA+ community” and in “fostering greater acceptance and understanding” of queer people in his sport.
“Everyone is entitled to their own set of beliefs,” he said, adding, “I think it’s important to recognize the difference between endorsing a community and respecting individuals within it.”
Last week, MLB announced a similar ban on Pride-themed jerseys.
Soccer champ Nilla Fischer has revealed that she and her teammates on Sweden’s national team had to “show their genitalia for the doctor” at the 2011 Women’s World Cup to prove that they were cis women.
Fischer bares all in her new autobiography I Didn’t Even Say Half of It, where she describes the “humiliating” experience of showing her vagina to a designated physiotherapist.
“We were told that we should not shave ‘down there’ in the coming days and that we will show our genitalia for the doctor,” wrote Fischer.
The reveal at that year’s World Cup in Germany was prompted by accusations from Nigeria, South Africa, and Ghana that Equatorial Guinea had men on their squad.
“No one understands the thing about shaving but we do as we are told and think ‘how did it get to this?’ Why are we forced to do this now, there has to be other ways to do this. Should we refuse?”
“At the same time no one wants to jeopardize the opportunity to play at a World Cup. We just have to get the s**t done no matter how sick and humiliating it feels.”
Two weeks before the tournament, FIFA issued a policy requiring teams to sign a declaration guaranteeing players are “of an appropriate gender.” That policy is still in effect.
After the African accusations, FIFA demanded immediate testing.
“I understand what I have to do and quickly pull down my training pants and underwear at the same time,” Fischer told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. “The physio nods and says ‘yup’ and then looks out at the doctor who is standing with his back to my doorway. He makes a note and moves on in the corridor to knock on the next door.
“When everyone on our team is checked, that is to say, has exposed their vagina, our team doctor can sign that the Swedish women’s national football team consists only of women.”
Fischer credits staff for making the odious experience bearable.
“We had a very safe environment in the team. So it was probably the best environment to do it in. But it’s an extremely strange situation and overall not a comfortable way to do it.”
Sweden’s team doctor at the time, Mats Börjesson, was circumspect.
“FIFA doesn’t do this to be mean to anyone,” he said. “The sports world has tried to create fairness for girls so that they don’t train their whole lives and then someone comes in with an unreasonable advantage.”
While a physical exam is expeditious, buccal swab testing to collect DNA in the mouth is the more common method used to determine sex.
The Toronto Blue Jays baseball team have announced they are to drop pitcher Anthony Bass after an anti-LGBTQ+ post he made has caused widespread condemnation.
The 35-year-old was dropped from the Canadian baseball team after three years following the pitcher sharing a video to his Instagram account in May encouraging viewers to boycott Bud Light.
Bud Light boycotts became synonymous with right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry after the beer company organised a sponsorship deal with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Bass’ post, which he later deleted and apologised for, encouraged Christians to boycott the brand, calling it an “evil” and “demonic” force being shoved “into children’s faces”.
Following the near month-long condemnation of Bass, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said on Friday (9 June) that the team would drop Bass from its line-up.
In a statement, Atkins explained that the decision was primarily regarding performance on the field, but that “distraction” was also part of it.
“I’m saying we’re trying to build the best possible team we can build and this was a baseball decision to make our team better,” he said.
The move came just hours before the Blue Jays were set to start their first game of Pride Weekend against the Minnesota Twins. Bass was expected to take part in the match.
Anthony Bass apologises for a second time, stands by his ‘personal beliefs’
“We definitely don’t want anyone feeling any hurt,” Atkins said. “We’re focused on the environment. We care about this community. We care about our fans. And I deeply regret if people do feel that way. It certainly was not our intention.”
Shortly after deleting his Instagram post, Bass apologised for the post, recognising that it was “hurtful to the Pride community,” which he said includes “friends” and “close family members”.
In his first on-pitch appearance following the backlash, the player was met with a chorus of boos from fans angered by the situation.
He then reiterated his apology on Thursday (8 June) when he said he stands by his “personal beliefs”.
“But I also mean no harm towards any groups of people,” he said. “And I felt like taking that down the second time was the right thing to do and not being a distraction.
“As a team, our job is to win baseball games. And that’s my focus.”
Bass’ initial call for a Bud Light boycott saw him join such right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ pundits as self-described theocratic fascist Matt Walsh, who said that the boycott “was about sending a message”, and musician-turned-anti-woke pundit Kid Rock, who filmed himself shooting cans of the beer.
The Republican-controlled House passed legislation Thursday that would ban transgender women and girls from competing in female school athletics — the latest GOP salvo in the intensifying culture wars over transgender rights in America.
The bill, authored by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., would amend Title IX to bar schools that receive federal funding from allowing people “whose sex is male” to participate in sports designated for women or girls.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The bill passed on a 219-203vote, but it will go nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The White House has also said President Joe Biden would veto the measure, which “targets people for who they are and therefore is discriminatory,” if it were to make it to his desk.
Steube called on colleagues to support his bill in a floor speech on Wednesday. “Congress in 1972 created Title IX to protect women’s sports, to enable women to have an equal playing field in athletics, and in worship to their trans idols, the [Biden] administration wants to flip that on its head. It’s insane,” Steube said.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., authored the bill targeting trans girls in sports.Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call via AP file
“Parents do not want biological men in locker rooms with their daughters, nor do they believe it’s equitable a male can compete with women in female athletics,” he added.
Democrats have accused Republicans of going after transgender people to build their political brand and raise cash from conservative donors. And they argue Steube’s bill would target and make life harder for people who already struggle with bullying, depression and thoughts of suicide.
The bill “makes school sports less fair by singling out and banning transgender women and girls as young as kindergarten from participating on school sports teams with their friends,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., a leader of the Equality Caucus, which advocates for LGBTQ rights on Capitol Hill.
“We know transgender students already face widespread bullying and discrimination,” he said Wednesday. “Adding to their pain by targeting their participation in school sports is both wrong and dangerous.”
Republicans stepped up their political attacks on transgender athletes after University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who had competed on the men’s swim team, switched to the women’s team after she came out as a trans woman and became the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship.
Since then, more than a dozen GOP-led states have enacted bans on transgender athletes. Republicans have also pushed for state laws to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
The Biden administration weighed in this month by proposing new regulations that would prohibit categorical bans on trans athletes at schools receiving federal funding but allow some restrictions at more elite levels of competition.
The proposal summary says the rules should take into account differences in age, grade and level of competition.
The Education Department “expects that … elementary school students would generally be able to participate on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity where considerations may be different for competitive high school and college teams,” the summary says.
Sports leagues and teams often use Pride nights to raise the visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ people — as well as sell them tickets — and the NHL has been a leader. They can include special jerseys designed by LGBTQ artists, performances, information tables, even drag performances. And they’re largely a hit.
But six NHL players recently opted out of wearing rainbow-colored jerseys on their teams’ Pride nights for the first time, leading the league’s commissioner to say it is weighing the future of the events.
That worries some fans and LGBTQ supporters, who say it’s a sign that a political climate that has led to restrictions on expression, health care and transgender sports participation both in the U.S. and internationally is now threatening events that are meant to be fun and affirming.
“It’s definitely fair to say that this political landscape is helping to sort of normalize people for opting out of the optional ways that they have been asked to show support for marginalized members of society,” said Hudson Taylor, executive director and founder of Athlete Ally, an organization that works with teams and leagues to push for LGBTQ inclusivity.
Pro sports has been here before. In June, five pitchers with the Tampa Bay Rays cited their Christian faith in refusing to wear Pride jerseys, and a U.S. women’s national soccer player skipped an overseas trip in 2017 when the team wore Pride jerseys and also didn’t play in an NWSL game last year for the same reason.
This season, three NHL teams — the Chicago Blackhawks, the New York Rangers and the Minnesota Wild — that previously wore rainbow warmups decided not to. The Rangers and Wild changed course after initially planning for players to wear rainbow-themed warmup jerseys but did not specifically say why.
Between the players opting out and the team decisions, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league will “evaluate” in the offseason how it handles Pride nights moving forward, calling the refusals a distraction from “the substance of our what our teams and we have been doing and stand for.” Yet he also noted that the NHL, teams and players “overwhelmingly” support Pride nights.
The NHL has partnered for a decade with You Can Play Project, which advocates for LGBTQ participation in sports. No NHL players had previously opted out of Pride nights.
Internationally, a Russian law that restricts “propaganda” about LGBTQ people, including in advertising, media and the arts, has led at least one Russian NHL player to decline participation in Pride night. And Ugandan lawmakers recently passed a bill prescribing jail terms for offenses related to same-sex relations.
It’s all connected, said Evan Brody, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky whose media studies research often focuses on LGBTQ spaces in sports.
“The laws that are being passed, the players not participating, all exist within the same kind of ecosphere,” Brody said. “They all exist within this larger anti-LGBTQ discourse, which I think we are often very quick to point out about other countries and maybe less so to think about how that’s affecting things in the United States.”
In the NHL, many Pride nights are more about selling tickets, Taylor said. But because the league has been such a leader among men’s sports in how to do Pride nights well, he said, it’s “conspicuous” to see players and teams “roll back the ways in which they have historically shown support for and given visibility to the LGBTQ community.”
Buffalo Sabres Victor Olofsson, left, Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka wear special warmup jerseys commemorating Pride Night before a game against the Montreal Canadiens in Buffalo, N.Y., on March 27, 2023. Adrian Kraus / AP
Russian Ivan Provorov and Canadians James Reimer and brothers Eric and Marc Staal all cited religious beliefs for refusing to take part in warmups in rainbow-colored jerseys. Ilya Lyubushkin said he would not participate because of the law in Russia, where he was born. And Andrei Kuzmenko, another Russian player, decided not to wear the special uniform after discussions with his family.
“Some players choose to make choices that they are free to make,” Bettman said Thursday night at a news conference in Seattle. “That doesn’t mean they don’t respect other people and their beliefs and their lifestyles and who they are. It just means they don’t want to endorse it by wearing uniforms that they are not comfortable wearing.”
Taylor noted that the fear of Russian retribution could be “very real” for a player like Lyubushkin, who has family in Moscow and visits often.
“I don’t think the LGBTQ community should feel that NHL hockey players are turning their back on that community,” new NHL Players’ Association executive director Marty Walsh said. “A supermajority of players have worn the jersey.”
The Twin Cities Queer Hockey Association took part in the Minnesota Wild’s Pride night this season, with two teenage LGBTQ+ members of the association sitting on the bench during warmups, among other things.
Bennett-Danek, who cofounded the association with her wife in early 2022, said the Wild have “been nothing but supportive” of their organization and the community at large.
“Yes, canceling wearing the jerseys was wrong, but they did not cancel any other part of Pride night and they continue to support our group, even today,” Bennett-Danek said. “They are also handing over the Pride jerseys with signatures for auction to further help support our LGBTQIA community here in the Twin Cities. … So, in our mind they have righted the wrong. They have promised us that Pride next year will not be canceled.”
The NHL hasn’t given out a penalty or fine for anti-LGBTQ language since 2017, though the American Hockey League suspended a player in April 2022 for eight games for using homophobic language. And the vast majority of NHL players are participating in pregame Pride skates, which Edmonton’s Zach Hyman said is “an obvious no-brainer.”
“It doesn’t go against any of my beliefs,” Hyman said. “On the contrary, I think it’s extremely important to be open and welcoming to that greater community just because they’re a minority and they’ve faced a lot of persecution over the years. And to show that we care and that we’re willing and ready to include them in our game and our sport is extremely important to me.”
Women track and field athletes will be subjected to tight surveillance based on gender stereotypes under a new set of global regulations, the latest in a series of arbitrary and increasingly restrictive policies, Human Rights Watch said today.
World Athletics, the international body governing athletics competitions, approved a new version of its “Eligibility Regulations for the Female Classification” on March 23, 2023. The new rules, which go into force on March 31, require women with higher than typical testosterone, and certain diagnoses of variations in their sex characteristics and hormonal sensitivity to go through medical procedures to reduce their testosterone levels to 2.5 nanomoles/liter for 24 months to be eligible to compete as women in any athletics event. These regulations are not based on any new scientific studies and have no apparent objective basis.
“Just like previous versions, these new regulations will coerce women to undergo unnecessary medical intervention to alter their hormone levels simply because their naturally occurring testosterone is atypical,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch. “Surveilling, stigmatizing, and stereotyping are intrinsic to these sex testing regulations.”
The tightening of World Athletics “DSD” policy – referring to the medical term “Differences of Sex Development” – effectively forces more medically unnecessary and often harmful interventions on perfectly healthy athletes as a condition for competing, Human Rights Watch said. It also expands a system of surveillance over the bodies of all women athletes.
Human Rights Watch research found past iterations of the same regulations encouraged abusive sex testing, discrimination, surveillance, and coerced medical intervention on women athletes, resulting in physical and psychological injury and economic hardship. Women perceived to be “too masculine” may become targets of suspicion and gossip and may be forced to end their athletic careers prematurely. The standards of femininity applied are often deeply racially biased, research has found.
There is no scientific consensus that women with naturally higher testosterone have a performance advantage in all sports. Athletes’ bodies exhibit a range of advantageous traits, some of them linked to sex characteristics, but certainly not all. Despite a wide range of testosterone levels among men, there have never been analogous regulations for male athletes.
Previous versions of these same World Athletics regulations, which allowed for a higher testosterone level and were only applied to certain events, are currently being challenged in the European Court of Human Rights by the South African runner Caster Semenya.
At a news conference announcing the new regulations, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe told reporters that under the new regulations, 13 women who were currently planning to compete in the August 2023 World Championships would become ineligible.
The fact that World Athletics can point to 13 currently competing athletes and know they will be ineligible speaks to the extent of surveillance on all women athletes’ bodies already happening under the current regulations, which is likely to get worse under the new regulations, Human Rights Watch said.
Throughout the history of sex testing, sports regulators have caused harm to women athletes. In 1985, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) disqualified a Spanish hurdler, Maria José Martínez-Patiño, after officials subjected her to sex testing using chromosomal tests. The officials deemed her “chromosomally male” and barred her from competition. Her test results were leaked to the media.
Following that controversy, the IOC began testing for what is called the “testis development,” or SRY gene, the idea being that this was the key to screen “sexually ambiguous” athletes from the women’s category. Using this test, officials classified some women as men, including eight women in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Then, following pressure from medical organizations and the Olympics’ Athletes’ Commission, the IOC decided to stop mandatory sex testing of all women, though some federations continued the practice based on suspicion – that is, testing women they thought might not pass a sex test.
Suspicion-based testing is inherent in the World Athletics regulations, which have resulted in profiling and targeting women according to gender stereotypes. Women perceived to be too “masculine” may become targets of suspicion, stigma, and whisper campaigns with detrimental effects.
The underlying stereotypes that drive targeting are deeply racialized. Under the veneer of scientific legitimacy, some women are ensnared in abusive and medically unnecessary tests and exams. These are overwhelmingly women of color from Africa and South Asia. The result can be exclusion from competitive athletics and the elimination of their livelihoods.
The then-United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, warned in her 2020 report: “History demonstrates that, because these regulations are applied in hundreds of countries, among many actors, it is impossible to guarantee privacy.”
In 2021, the IOC passed a “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” following a years-long process, including consultations with affected athletes. The framework called on individual sporting federations to undertake a process to determine their own policies and gave strong human rights guidance.
The IOC said that “Criteria to determine disproportionate competitive advantage may, at times, require testing an athlete’s performance and physical capacity. However, no athlete should be subject to targeted testing of, or aimed at determining, their sex, gender identity, and/or sex variations.”
“The World Athletics regulations amount to policing women’s bodies based on arbitrary definitions of femininity,” Worden said. “What we have now is a system that is subjecting all women athletes’ bodies to surveillance. Identifying relevant athletes through observation and suspicion creates a situation in which women athletes’ bodies are scrutinized, while no such scrutiny is applied to men.”
