U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson stuck his neck out pretty far into the “cancel culture guillotine” when he was giving an interview.
He spoke about gay rights, sex changes for children, and transgender people in sports in the interview.
He had this to say on the issue of transwomen competing against biological women.
“I don’t think that biological males should be competing in female sporting events. Maybe that’s a controversial thing to say, but it just seems to me to be sensible.”
The BBC reported that the LBBTQ+ charity Stonewall responded to Boris’ comments.
In response to Johnson’s comments, LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall said: “Trans people deserve the same opportunities as everyone else to enjoy the benefits of sport and blanket exclusions on trans people participating are fundamentally unfair.
“This is a complex and fast-evolving issue and much of the science doesn’t yet exist in this area.
“Inclusion policies need to be considered on a sport by sport basis and it’s vital to avoid using inflammatory rhetoric, which often causes trans people to stop playing the sports they love.”
Stonewall said that although elite sport “often dominates these discussions”, transgender people are also “underrepresented in community sport” where they “often feel excluded”.
The organization added: “Sport has the unique power to bring us together and it’s important trans people have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of sport without facing exclusion or abuse.”
Recently, a group of elite female cyclists sent a letter to the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, to change its stance on allowing transwomen to compete against biological women. In the letter, there were claims that female athletes in the U.K. were willing to boycott cycling in order for their concerns to be heard.
Today @UCI_cycling received this letter requesting they address female athletes issues with their current transgender athlete rules. If you support this please consider adding your name to the 76 women who have already signed & we will let the UCI know. https://t.co/hTg2RTABlb pic.twitter.com/pMjOuTMpPs
— Union Cycliste Feminine (@UnionFeminine) April 5, 2022
British Cycling responded by saying,
“We understand that this is an important issue for our staff and riders, which is why we have worked hard to provide forums for them to openly share their views on our policy and transgender inclusion more widely.
“These discussions are an important part of our commitment to learn and understand more about how the sport sector can achieve fairness in a way that maintains the dignity and respect of all athletes.”
However, Emily Bridges, a transgender woman who competes in cycling, said she now feels “harassed and demonized” because Bridges’ eligibility to compete in cycling events was unsure.
Bridges is a 21-year-old biological male who came out as transgender in October 2020. In 2021 Bridges started hormone therapy and was then allowed to compete in women’s events due to the consistently lowered levels of testosterone.
As confusing as it sounds, only last month, Bridges won a men’s cycling race at the British Universities Championship in Glasgow. It was supposedly Bridges’ final men’s race.
These transgender issues will keep on popping up. Many are saying that science has not caught up with this issue yet. What should be the proper response? Should transgender people compete against other transgender people?
Transmen use hormone therapies that increase testosterone in their bodies, it would be unfair to compete as biological females because they would have an unfair advantage.
This story syndicated with permission from My Patriot Post