A new group founded by former Olympian Sharron Davies MBE has pledged to end men being allowed to compete in women’s sport across the UK.
Davies said the Women’s Sports Union (WSU) is ready to launch legal action to defend the belief that “everyone must compete in the category to which their biological body belongs”.
Davies, as CEO of the WSU, is supported by a coalition of sportspeople, legal experts and policymakers, including Judi Murray OBE, Olympic legend Daley Thompson CBE, sports policy consultant Cathy Devine, and Free Speech Union International CEO Jon Benjamin.
‘Sex-based’
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Davies stressed that she is “never anti-trans, just pro-female”.
Explaining the group’s origins, she said that those involved “couldn’t just keep verbally lobbying. We needed to create an umbrella organisation that people could join and donate to, so that we could go down a legal route.
“What we would like it to be in the future is a voice for women’s sport.”
The WSU’s stated aim is “to protect and grow spaces where women and girls are seen, heard, supported, celebrated and given their sex based rights to equal opportunity”.
Compromise
In the Telegraph article, Davies was also critical of sports’ bodies in Britain that had banned men from elite but not grassroot competitions for women.
Earlier this year, she accused the Lawn Tennis Association of adopting an “insane” and “illegal position” after it protected all female competitions, except those at local club level, from transgender and ‘non-binary’ players.
Davies observed: “Even after the very clear Supreme Court ruling on what a woman is and the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act, sports are still choosing men’s feelings over women’s reality and our rightful opportunities to fair sport, free from any and all males.
“It’s simply wrong. It’s time for women to firmly say no. And if we have to, we will resort to more litigation.”
Biological sex
In September, World Athletics introduced the use of the once-off SRY gene eligibility test for participation in world ranking competitions for women.
The test, which it describes as “a reliable proxy for determining biological sex”, identifies the sex determining gene, which is usually found on the male sex chromosome.
Commenting on the new regulations, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “It was always very clear to me and the World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology”.
World Boxing introduced the SRY gene test in May.
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