FINA is facing a backlash over the new “Gender Inclusion Policy” for transgender swimmers

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FINA is facing a backlash over the new "Gender Inclusion Policy" for transgender swimmers

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FINA, the international governing body of swimming, faced a backlash over the new “Gender Inclusion Policy” passed on Sunday, which set the standard for transgender athletes’ participation in the sport.

The “Gender Inclusion Policy” only allows swimmers who switched before the age of 12 to compete in women’s events. FINA members voted 71.5% in favor of the new policy. There was also a proposal for a new “open competition policy”. The organization said it is establishing “a new working group that will spend the next six months looking at the most effective ways to establish this new category.”

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In the 24-page policy released on Sunday, FINA detailed how transgender men and women will be allowed to compete under the new rules.

LGBTQ+ rights groups and other swimmers said the policy would harm transgender athletes.

“FINA’s new eligibility criteria for transgender athletes and athletes with intersex variations are discriminatory, harmful, unscientific and not in line with the IOC 2021 Principles. If we really want to protect women’s sport, we must include all women,” he said Athlete Ally, an advocacy group for the inclusion of trans people in sports, wrote in a tweet.

The interim President of the Human Rights Campaign, Joni Madison, also commented on FINA’s decision.

“This sudden and discriminatory decision is a blatant attack on transgender athletes who have worked to comply with long-standing guidelines that have allowed them to participate without problems for years. This policy is an example of swimming organizations giving in to the avalanche of ill-informed, biased attacks on a particular transgender swimmer. We call on FINA to reconsider its policy and ensure the inclusion of all athletes – including transgender women – and allow them to participate in sport free from discrimination, abuse and harassment,” Madison said in a statement.

Jonathan Van Ness was among those who spoke out against FINA's policies.

Jonathan Van Ness was among those who spoke out against FINA’s policies.
(Ever Countess/Getty Images)

“To the young athletes who may be disheartened by this policy, rest assured that we know and believe that every young person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and that transgender children have the same opportunities as their friends.” earn, to learn sportsmanship and independence. Discipline and teamwork and to build a sense of belonging with peers.”

AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING STAR SUPPORTS FINA’S ‘GENDER INCLUSION POLICY’

Others also chimed in on social media.

According to FINA, transgender men are eligible to enter FINA competitions and set world records in the men’s category unless:

“For the disciplines of water polo and high diving, the athlete must submit to FINA a risk assumption form signed and dated by the athlete or, if the athlete is a minor, by his legal representative” or “All athletes undergoing treatment containing testosterone or other anabolic substances as part female-to-male sex-affirming hormone treatment are required to obtain a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for that treatment under the FINA Doping Control Rules.

Transgender women and athletes whose legal gender and/or gender identity is female may compete in FINA-sanctioned events if “they can demonstrate, to the convenient satisfaction of FINA, that they have not passed any part of male puberty above Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later.”

Lia Thomas looks on after winning the women's 500 yard freestyle during the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championship at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus March 17, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Lia Thomas looks on after winning the women’s 500 yard freestyle during the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus March 17, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia.
(Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

The athlete must demonstrate that they have “complete androgen insensitivity and therefore have not experienced male puberty” or “You are androgen sensitive but male puberty has been suppressed from Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later , and they have since continuously maintained their serum (or plasma) testosterone levels below 2.5 nmol/L” or “An inadvertent deviation from the requirement below 2.5 nmol/L may result in retrospective disqualification of results and/or a expected period of ineligibility, or “Intentional deviation from below 2.5 nmol/L may result in retrospective disqualification of results and an expected period of ineligibility equal to or equal to the FINA DRC time limits for intentional anti-doping rule violations involving anabolic steroids.”

Transgender athletes who do not meet the eligibility criteria may compete in “any open events” that the organization may develop in the future.

David Gerrard, FINA’s chief medical officer, said on Monday that the international governing body’s new policy on elite swimming on transgender athletes was the “best outcome” for the sport’s future.

“In my opinion, FINA’s approach to this matter was very enlightened, it was very balanced, it was informed,” Gerrard told Reuters. “It recognized the athlete’s voice, the scientific, objective evidence, and the somewhat more subjective human rights (and) legal issues that were very forcefully argued by the attorneys present.

A logo of FINA, the international governing body for swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water swimming, is displayed during the FINA World Championships in Rome July 25, 2009.

A logo of FINA, the international governing body for swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water swimming, is displayed during the FINA World Championships in Rome July 25, 2009.
(MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)

“I hope that this model will be taken into account by other sports.”

Gerrard, a former New Zealand Olympian, added that fairness in sport was a key issue that FINA wanted to address and predicted it would continue to be an issue.

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“This is an issue that we must face and the debate will continue,” he said. “But when it comes to fairness and safety, you have to put a spanner in the works.”

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