Thread by @KirstiMiller30

Believing and perpetuating myths and misconceptions about trans athletes is harmful. Denying trans people the right to participate is discrimination and it doesn’t just hurt trans people, it hurts all of us.

https://twitter.com/kirstimiller30/status/1274885411773362176

There is a long legacy of sex discrimination in sport. Myths, such as the idea that physical exertion would harm women’s reproductive systems or that women were inherently inferior athletes, were historically used to “protect” women out of participation.

The marginalization of trans trans & intersex athletes is rooted in the same harmful history of gender discrimination and stereotyping that has impeded the achievement of gender equality in sports as a whole.

Old stereotypes regarding athleticism, biology, and gender are being directed at transgender girls, who are frequently told outright that they are not girls (and conversely transgender boys are told they are not really boys).

This policing of gender has been used to justify subjecting transgender athletes to numerous additional barriers to participating in sports, from onerous medical requirements to segregation in locker rooms to outright bans on their participation.

The truth is, transgender women and girls have been competing in sports at all levels for years for over 46 years, and there is no research supporting the claim that they maintain a competitive advantage.

These stereotypes are also being invoked in the arena of professional sports, where so-called “gender testing” has been used to police the bodies of women of color and intersex women.

medium.com/the-establishm…

The @WorldAthletics
has targeted athletes like Dutee Chand and Caster Semenya for testosterone testing based on arbitrary limits. The current regulations, which Semenya is challenging, requires 46 XY intersex female athletes to undergo unnecessary medical....

...treatment to suppress their hormones in order to compete.

XX women should be concerned whenever an alleged concern for “protecting” their wellbeing is invoked to justify exclusion.

We’ve seen these arguments play out with the harmful and debunked “bathroom predator” myth, where false concerns for cis girls and sexual harassment have been used to promote legislation banning transgender people from public restrooms.

abcnews.go.com/US/sexual-assa…

We’ve seen it harnessed by legislators like those in America, the UK and Australia who have capitalized on transphobic comments to push for bills , which would ban all trans youth from playing sports in school consistent with their gender identity.

One thing is clear: The politicians who introduce these anti-trans bills luke the #HB500 are not concerned with the integrity of girls’ athletics, any more than proponents of bathroom bans are concerned about preventing gender-based violence.

4vawa.org/ntf-action-ale…

We must see these efforts for what they are: fear mongering intended to push transgender and nonbinary people out of public spaces.

When misinformation about biology and gender is used to bar transgender and intersex girls from sports it amounts to the same form of sex discrimination that has been used against all women in sports for over a century.

In 2022 sports should look for ways to support all girls who want to participate in sport, rather than attempt to police gender on the basis of impermissible sex stereotypes.

The new @iocmedia gender Framework has made it possible for us to reimagine sport. Sport with an emphasis on prevention, & athlete health wellbeing & safety. This reimagining would pre-empt the endless circular debates about fairness that dehumanise the very people that compete.

The new IOC framework may also elevate people to a better understanding of human diversity, which we should be cherishing for what their efforts and accomplishments teach us about being human. It would shift the focus to them as athletes and people.

I am bullish on the IOC’s new framework. I feel the new direction will pay dividends throughout sports. It is treating us all as individuals instead of a monolithic community. That is a number one paradigm shift. That is what I fought for from day one in this discussion.

Left out of the framework is the focus on direct regulation of blanket endogenous levels for transgender women. In its place, the new framework focus on evidence-based, sport-specific solutions that use sport results and lab results as the measuring stick.

The arbitrary T (testosterone) level made no sense. There was no assessment of speed, no assessment of endurance, no assessment of strength or physique.

The new IOC framework, suggests that restrictions for participation should be based on, “data collected from a demographic group consistent in gender and athletic engagement. No longer can sports use proxies for trans athletes such as @WorldRugby did.

The IOC & sports moving forward cannot introduce blanket T levels. The IOC understand the legal precedents involved, led by the case of Canadian cyclist Kristen Worley, who first took the Union Cycliste Internationale to court after being the first trans athlete to submit to

gender testing after the initial Stockholm Consensus in 2003. Worley won a settlement from both the UCI and Canada’s national governing body for cycling in the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in 2017

after it was determined that the policy calling for forced reduction of testosterone was detrimental to her overall health.

crossingthelinesport.com/story/kristen-…

Kristen with evidence base science proved beyond any doubt that androgen deprivation is a serious illness and that is what they have forced athletes like @CarolineLayt, me and athletes like Caster and we’ve all become unwell.

Kristen choose to lose her career to fight for the better cause because this isn’t just a trans or intersex issue. This is a women in sports issue and we wouldn’t be here without Kristen Worley.

In this episode of The Trans Sporter Room -- I talk about Why the IOC Framework Can Work even in full contact sports such as @WorldRugby. I also talk about why the T blanket policy was removed.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the…

This new policy reflects some of what I have been pushing for years, namely a framework that is built around each individual sport & athlete. I talk about the effects that transitioning has had on myself & why I am is so encouraged by the new IOC policy.
podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/out…