‘It’s very distressing if you’ve put your life and soul into training for sport, then someone male comes along and thinks they can displace you from your team.’
Director of Sport, Fair Play for Women, Fiona Mcanena, on trans cyclist Emily bridges being denied competing in female competitions.
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[Applause] welcome back to free speech Nation with me Andrew Doyle transgender cyclist Emily Bridges says he is willing to take the sports governing body in the UK to the European Court of human rights in Strasburg over their decision not to allow him to compete against females last year cycling authorities both
Nationally and internationally ruled that men who identify as female are ineligible to compete in women’s events and bridges says he may not compete at the elite level again himself but wants to contest the ruling for the benefit of future generations and says he admitted that he had lost hope of competing again
At an El Elite level okay so to discuss this very interesting topic I’m joined by Fiona mcanena director of sport at fair play for women Fiona welcome to the show so Emily Bridges is a biological male why should he be able to participate in female sport well we
Don’t think he should because we don’t think identity matters at all in sport Emily Bridges should be welcomed in open cycling which used to be called men’s cycling and in fact at University Emily did compete very successfully in his University uhy team cycling team and won a medal at the British Championship so
This is someone who was actually a a champion even within the men’s category so that’s going to be someone who has huge advantages over women by virtue of going through male puberty for one thing yeah so Bridges was a a GB Junior champion at 25 miles uh was in the
Academy and ended up leaving the the British s sorry F just giving you a handheld mic because there’s a problem with the the T there s so Bridges left the the Junior Academy um didn’t quite make the grade but of course um a male body on a bike
Is very fast compared to female and so um even being not quite good enough for the men’s team brid just could still be good enough to be in the women’s team if that were allowed and clearly that’ be grossly unfair so to give the counterargument you know Emily Bridges
Has said that this is very very upsetting distressing the idea um that the the body in charge of cycling is saying no we have strict categories based on biological sex not based on gender identity do you understand that for for sports people generally whose vocation is is their chosen sport that
This can be quite a distressing thing yeah indeed and that’s certainly the case for all the British women who were faced with the prospect of losing their place in the GB team because a young male had decided that uh that’s where he wanted to be so I think that uh there’s
No doubt that it’s very distressing if you’ve put your life and soul into training for sport and then someone may comes along and thinks that they can displace you from your team very interesting uh now speaking to ITV Emily Bridges said the following a ban is a
Ban you can say you can compete in the open category but we’re women we should be able to race in the women’s category it’s an incredibly scary time to be trans at the moment you leave the house and you’re thinking I’m not going to come home because someone doesn’t like
Who I am it seems to me Fiona that people are different using different definitions of the word woman so for 99% of us it’s a biological category for certain activists it’s an identity category am I reading that right do you think I think you’re exactly right but I
Think it’s very sad that Bridges would say those things because this is a very safe country to live in if you’re trans identifying um I’m not aware of of of any particular problems that that Bridges has faced and it frightens young people to tell them that they could be
Under attack for their identity I really don’t think that’s the case now a fair play for women has just produced this report how inclusion in sport is harming women and girls there it is right there this is available to download from the fair play for women website
This broadens this out this is not just about Emily Bridges this is about uh the principal isn’t it could you tell us a bit about this report yeah so we wanted to collect the evidence to say this is not just a few as you say a few examples
Like Emily Bridges and we know that people are afraid to talk about it they’ve been silenced women have been threatened that they’ be dropped from their team or or kicked out of their club and in fact that has happened and so we’ve been collating personal testimony from dozens and dozens of
Women and girls across 25 different sports and that’s what’s in our report and we’re making the case that if you have a male and female category in your sport you’ve done that for a reason you know that sex matters in sport and if that’s the case then the female category
Has to be for for those born female otherwise you’ve got two men’s categories and that’s that’s not fair just to come back to the human rights point so it wouldn’t be a bad thing if Emily Bridges took the case to the European Court of Human Rights because
There is no human right to choose what category you go into in sport you know uh there isn’t even a human right to sport but there are laws International laws against sex discrimination and so I wouldn’t be unhappy to see that being tested in court and of course a lot of
This is about fairness uh but a lot of your critics would say but you know there isn’t an epidemic of trans athletes winning all the medals what do you what do you say to that well most of us don’t win medals do we I mean there
Are 18 million women and girls in the UK doing sports mostly we don’t win but we we all hope for Fair competition um and if there is a male then they’ve they’re going to be 10% faster they’re going to be 30 to 50% stronger and uh we know
Already that young women and girls are being put off because they feel it’s not fair sometimes it’s not safe we’ve seen some huge problems in football with safety just one trans identifying male player can create safety risks and it’s not necessarily their fault except that they’re there but they can create safety
Problems for all the other women in in in in the team so it’s a big problem and F I’m I right thinking a lot of girls are a bit nervous to speak out about this even if they feel it is it is unjust because of the stigma you know
They see people called transphobe and bigot and and far right just for raising these concerns am I right about that you’re right about that and in fact the sports council’s produced a report on this uh in 2021 when they put out their new guidance saying that it is not
Possible to balance trans inclusion in the female category with fairness and safety for for women and girls they reported then how people talk to them in fear so these are independent Consultants appointed by the the sports councils of Great Britain and uh they found in interviews that people were
Crying they were afraid they would only speak if they were guaranteed anonymity because they were so afraid of losing their jobs or losing their place in a team and it as you say it’s it’s not just about fairness there’s physical safety to consider here isn’t there yes
I mean in some sports um particularly team sports football Cricket hockey you can get really badly hurt and the the sheer physicality of a male means that um for example in football people have told us they just they can’t even tackle a man when they’re playing football
Because he just shrug them off and they just end up afraid of being hurt yes so rugby made Fair rules for this a couple of years ago at World level the UK rugby federations didn’t catch up until one year ago even they finally saw sense and now we’re slowly seeing we’re seeing
Other sports catch up but a lot of them are afraid of being sued and that’s why Bridges is making this threat I think because people really don’t want the time and the distraction of having to go to court uh I mean a lot of people were
Watching this thinking how did we get to this point it seems like a no-brainer that obviously we divide Sports by biological sex and that should stay that way why do you think this has happened well I there was guidance from the sports councils previously that said basically there were not many sh
Identifying people and so they should be accommodated and they made those rules without thinking properly about the impact on women and girls because you know as we know one male impacts a lot of women and girls we’re seeing the the pendulum swim back swing back now know
But uh I think there’s still a lot of fear about being called names being called bigoted and there’s a lot of pressure on girls particularly to be kind to be accommodating to make way you know and and you know Bridges cycled in the in the men’s team um those guys were
Quite happy with Bridges as a teammate that’s how it should be for all trans identifying males absolutely only because it doesn’t seem very kind for him to compete against women who don’t stand a chance oh I totally agree with you there right well can you just
Finally PHA tell us just where can we find more information about fair play for women and this report so Fairplay forw women.com and and you can download a PDF of the report and I would encourage people to send it to their MP send it to their sport governing body if
They’re involved in sport F thanks so much for joining me really appreciate it pleasure
24 Comments
He shouldn’t be competing in women’s events. Life is about choices. If you want to change genders know your days competing are over. If you don’t like that you need to wait to transition. The world does not revolve around you.
Hahahaha… the fact that this is even a topic is hilarious ! There is nothing to "debate" here.
Except maybe that Gen Z is the greatest disappointment of any generation….. ever !
Identity does matter! No biological bloke no matter how much they try to be a stereotypical "female" should be competing against biological woman. This is just men wanting to make women second class citizens like in countries where women have no rights. Bridges is a male, a bloke – GO AWAY
They don’t know when to back off because they ARE A BIOLOGICAL MALE and the testosterone of maleness WONT LET THEM. Cowards that won’t compete against males because not good enough!!
This lunacy has to stop. Your sex is determined by your chromosomes.
Cross dressing is a fetish. Good luck with it – each to his own.
"it's an incredibly scary time to be trans…I'm not going to come home" – what utter nonsense. Society has never been more tolerant of trans people. Just because the women don't want you racing with them, doesn't mean you're going to be murdered. If anything, pushing yoruself into women's spaces and demanding society sees you as an actual woman, is causing any backlash you might experience. This is just emotional blackmail and manipulation.
Unofficial figures show about 1 trans person killed a year in the UK and that doesn't even mean because they were trans I.e. it's the same murder rate as men and possibly lower than that faced by women. Stop making up a "trans genocide" to manipulate the public into doing what you want.
Mmm there is a difference between a natural born female and a man trying to identify as a female.
Unfortunately no matter how much medical intervention and treatments,their levels cannot get as low as a natural born female.
Fact over 97% still have all their male anatomy intact.
There is no way a man trying to be female should race against a natural born female.
Bridges is a mediocre cheat. he cant beat men so he wants to thrash women. nice
Sex is simply that. Men are men and women are women, end. This bullshit sends to end immediately
Then comes the trans-aliens who claim to be from another planet. They have been completely ignored. LOL
In this case whatever gender it identifies as…. it is a cheating weasel !
what should we debate the fact that a man wants to compete with women ?
He failed miserably as a man but could dominate the women's team. He should not be allowed to pretend he is a woman.
What a load of bollox. Men shouldn’t be competing against women. This dude should be ashamed of himself but he’s not because he’s a cheat and has no shame.
I am a 76 year old man and could have been a women's national champion in 1964. The world has gone mad, he's a bloke and should not compete with girls or women.
Aii she has to say is that she is a vegan
Gender doping
Do trans cyclists have a seat on their bicycles? Its my friend asking….
This is a very reasonable and sane explanation. The "Men's category is the "Open" Category. The other category is the female category.
WHO"S THE MAN! EMILY IS THE MAN! GO MAN GO!
How do we allow women to be pushed to one side for a biological man, how do most women allow this, how do trans women think this fair in sport.
This woman is a great spokesperson for women. Well done.
Another man unable to compete against men. In men’s cycling, he placed 43 I had a 45 headed another cycling event he came in next to last. So, like William Thomas, he thought, hey, I’ll just say I’m a women and then I can get first place in the women’s competitions. Thank God the bicycling powers that be or smarter than the swimming.