The World Athletics Council have announced they will “exclude male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from female World Rankings competition from 31 March 2023”.
The decision has come after intense debate about whether women who have transitioned from a male should be allowed to compete in female sporting events.
In its press release, the Council said it “decided to prioritise fairness and the integrity of the female competition before inclusion.”
The decision comes after several months of discussion with various stakeholders including the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and representative transgender and human rights groups.
The Council have agreed to set up a 12-month working group to further consider the issue of transgender inclusion.
Liverpool FC Women’s defender Leighanne Robe caused a stir on Twitter after the announcement.
Robe liked several tweets praising the decision including one that said, “every day more males are stealing medals, team places & prize money in sport that were specifically designed for females”.
Not like it’s private so here’s screenshots in case she sees this and goes private or unlikes them 👍 would be interested to know if you’ve got any educational courses in place for this or similar? Not good enough @BarclaysWSL @LiverpoolFCW pic.twitter.com/Ey1R389Vw5
— lia walti’s pr team (@skybluefcs) March 27, 2023
The tweets have since been unliked.
Liverpool LGBT+ Fans Group Kop Outs have said they will raise this with the club.
Mersey Sport Live has reached out to athletic clubs Liverpool Harriers and Wallasey Athletics, and transgender society Spirit Level for comment.
(Featured image – Indoor Athletics courtesy of the justified sinner under agreed creative commons license)
