Stephanie Turner, an American fencer, was disqualified from a girls’s match in Maryland, USA, after refusing to face an opponent she claimed as transgender. Turner was proven a black card and was additionally disqualified from competing in additional rounds after taking a knee in protest in opposition to her opponent. “This individual is a person, and I’m a lady”, Turner was quoted as saying by Fox Information. She added that the difficulty of trans athletes in girls’s sport had turned her from a life-long Democrat to a “new Republican conservative.”
Elaborating on her determination to not face her opponent, Turner instructed the conservative information company: “I knew what I needed to do as a result of USA Fencing had not been listening to girls’s objections relating to [its gender eligibility policy]. I took a knee instantly at that time. He was beneath the impression that I used to be going to begin fencing. So once I took the knee, I seemed on the ref and I mentioned, ‘I’m sorry, I can not do that. I’m a lady, and it is a man, and it is a girls’s match. And I can’t fence this particular person.’ He didn’t hear me, and he comes as much as me, and he thinks that I could also be damage, or he doesn’t perceive what’s taking place. He asks, ‘Are you OK?’ And I mentioned, ‘I’m sorry. I’ve a lot love and respect for you, however I can’t fence you.”
Explaining its determination to disqualify Turner, USA Fencing mentioned: “A fencer isn’t permitted to refuse to fence one other correctly entered fencer for any motive.” The official physique additionally clarified that this rule exists to protect the ‘integrity’ of the game.
Whereas media organisations like Fox Information recognized Turner’s opponent by title, wire service The Related Press shunned figuring out the fencer since they’re but to publicly touch upon the incident or reveal their gender id.
A USA Fencing spokesperson was quoted by Fox Information Digital as saying that Turner was merely black carded for refusing to fence not for her stance in opposition to trans inclusion.
(With inputs from AP)
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