MANCHESTER, England — US soccer veteran Megan Rapinoe drew the ire of retired tennis great Martina Navratilova when she said this week she would “absolutely” support a trans woman playing for the US team.
The inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s events is one of the most contentious and divisive issues in sport with World Athletics and World Aquatics among the world federations that have tightened their rules in recent months.
The Women’s World Cup, which kicks off on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand, will feature some of the fiercest advocates for LGBTQ rights and visibility, but FIFA is reviewing its trans eligibility policies, a move announced a year ago. after swimming approved its new stricter rules.
“We as a country are trying to legally remove the full humanity of people,” Rapinoe told Time. “It is particularly frustrating when women’s sports are weaponized. Oh, now we care about justice? Now we care about women’s sports?
Navratilova, a gay rights pioneer, tweeted a one-word response: “Yikes. . .”
Rapinoe and her partner, retired WNBA star Sue Bird, were among 40 professional athletes who signed a letter to US lawmakers in April opposing a federal bill that requires Title IX compliance to ban transgender athletes play female and female sports. Title IX is a civil rights law from the 1970s that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.
Critics of the inclusion of transgender people in women’s sports say going through male puberty gives athletes a major physical advantage that transition doesn’t mitigate.
The USA women’s team, including Rapinoe, lost 5-2 to an FC Dallas U-15 men’s team in an informal training game in 2017.
There is no timetable for updated FIFA guidelines as officials, like those for swimming and athletics, try to balance a desire for inclusion with safety and fairness.
“Certainly the pendulum is swinging back in a negative way. There’s no question about that,” Joanna Harper, a Canadian-born transgender woman and author, told Reuters.
“In terms of FIFA, I am reasonably optimistic that FIFA will continue to be inclusive, although I don’t know for sure.
“I am not necessarily optimistic about various more regional or national soccer organizations. In much of the world, trans people are lucky to be alive. So those countries will not have trans soccer players.”
‘correct sex’
FIFA rules, first published in 2011, state that only men are eligible to play in men’s competitions, and the same for women.
Each participating member association must, “prior to national team nomination, ensure that the correct gender of all players is considered…by actively investigating any perceived deviation in secondary sex characteristics.”
Swedish defender Nilla Fischer revealed in her recent book that she and her teammates had to “show their genitals to the doctor” at the 2011 World Cup, following allegations that the Equatorial Guinean team had male players.
A cloud of uncertainty hung over Zambia captain Barbra Banda after she was ruled ineligible for last year’s Africa Cup of Nations amid speculation about high testosterone levels.
The 23-year-old, who scored two hat tricks at the 2020 Olympics, will captain Zambia at the World Cup in Australia but has come under unrelenting scrutiny.
LGBTQ advocates say the debate over including transgender people in women’s sports has also created an increasingly hostile environment for people with gender diversity in North America.
Quinn, who only goes by one name, became the first openly non-binary trans athlete to win an Olympic medal when Canada won gold in women’s soccer in Tokyo.
The 27-year-old, who will be making his second World Cup appearance in Australia, told the Toronto Star that they have witnessed increasing negativity towards people with gender diversity.
“I think it’s a scary time for me,” Quinn said. “I think I have a lot of privilege going into this conversation, so I have to keep that in mind. But I think the reality is that it’s scary.”
According to the LGBTQ Outsports website, a record of at least 87 out players will compete in the World Cup, more than double the 38 that played in the 2019 version.
Several teams, including England, had hoped to wear a “One Love” armband at the World Cup, but FIFA designed eight armbands with different “Unite” messages that teams can support. “United for Inclusion” is more like the band “One Love”.
Sarah Gregorius, from the FIFPRO players’ union, said she thought it was a sensible solution given the geographical spread of the teams in the tournament.
“You have players who can feel something individually, but they know, because of their cultural context, that that’s going to be a particularly dangerous stance, so it’s hard to say, ‘This is the position on behalf of all 32 captains. 32 national teams,’” he told Reuters.
