Sports and the locker room debate: Johnson against equal rights for transgender women

Debate about sports and changing rooms
Johnson against equal rights for transgender women

06/04/2022, 10:14 PM

Should trans women be able to compete as women? The British Prime Minister says: No. Johnson says that males should also be biologically denied access to the women’s ward in changing rooms or hospitals. This topic is hotly debated in the Kingdom.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken out against equal treatment of transgender women and women in public life. “I don’t think biologically men should compete in women’s sports,” Johnson said while visiting a hospital in a small town north of London. “It may be controversial, but to me it seems reasonable,” he added. Johnson added that he also believes that women should have distances to themselves. He cited hospitals, prisons, and locker rooms as examples.

He stressed that this does not mean that he does not have much sympathy for people who want to change their gender. “It is imperative that we give people the utmost love and support to make these decisions,” the prime minister said. However, these are complex problems that cannot be easily solved.

Mathematics requires scientific evidence

The statement comes days after the sport’s international governing body banned a transgender British female cyclist from competing in the UK. Emily Bridges, 21, started hormone therapy last year and was given the green light by the British Football Association to participate. The case sparked controversy in the United Kingdom.

The BBC reported that a group of elite female cyclists had previously written a letter threatening a boycott and calling for existing transgender rules to be repealed unless the federation could “prove strong scientific evidence that the rules guarantee fairness to mathematics”. Low testosterone levels alone are not enough to prevent a male advantage in exercise.

Bridges, the disqualified trans woman, wrote in a statement that she felt “harassed and demonized” and said she simply wanted to return to racing. According to the BBC, British interest group Stonewall has complained about the blanket exclusion of transgender people, which is not always fair. There are still no scientific findings in this complex field.