Ladies’s fencer Stephanie Turner spoke out towards USA Fencing throughout an interview on Fox Information Channel’s “American Stories” on Thursday after a video of her kneeling to protest a trans opponent went viral.
“There’s actually no choice to go round this when there are extremists who tackle positions on the authoritative positions at [USA Fencing], so I’ve little or no choice however being compelled to fence,” Turner stated.
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Turner’s determination to kneel and refuse to face trans competitor Redmond Sullivan on the Cherry Blossom Open final weekend resulted in Turner being dealt a black card – probably the most extreme penalty, resulting in expulsion from the match or occasion for critical rule infractions or unsportsmanlike conduct.
USA Fencing chair Damien Lehfeldt has made a number of pro-trans statements, together with a weblog publish in August 2023, the place he argued on behalf of trans inclusion in fencing.
“There’s a chance that transgender ladies have a bodily benefit over their cisgender opponents after transitioning,” Lehfeldt wrote. “There may be additionally a chance they don’t. In Fencing, there is no such thing as a knowledge to help both viewpoint. Giving athletes a way of belonging and a will to stay is extra highly effective than medals and aggressive glory.
“Transgender ladies are ladies and gender is just not intercourse,” he insisted, including, “Transgender fencers deserve the correct to compete with the gender they establish with.”
WHO IS STEPHANIE TURNER? WOMEN’S FENCER WHO KNELT TO PROTEST TRANS OPPONENT AND IGNITED GLOBAL AWARENESS
USA Fencing first enacted its present trans-inclusion coverage in 2023. It permits transgender athletes to compete within the ladies’s class at each the junior and senior degree after finishing one calendar 12 months of testosterone suppression remedy.
However the group additionally employs a coverage that offers choice when choosing host cities for nationwide tournaments to states with out legal guidelines that “hurt members of LGBTQ communities.”
In November 2023, the group launched a record of states that it supposed to “keep away from the place attainable” and the states that it flat out wouldn’t enable internet hosting of main occasions.
This previous December, a nonprofit fencing group, the Truthful Fencing Group, penned an open letter to USA Fencing Board Members urging the re-evaluation of its stance on a number of points, together with transgender inclusion.
Simply days later, nevertheless, board members voted towards a number of motions to approve an all-female job pressure to re-evaluate and revise the present transgender coverage, in an 8-3 vote. Now, after siding towards ladies fencers in search of safety from trans inclusion, USA Fencing finds itself plunged into a world controversy after Turner’s viral protest.
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Saber fencing gear through the USA Fencing Division I Nationwide Championships on the Larger Richmond Conference Middle on April 11, 2016, in Richmond, Virginia. (Patrick Smith/Getty Pictures)
On Thursday, the group defended its present trans-inclusion insurance policies in a public assertion.
“USA Fencing stays dedicated to fostering an inclusive, respectful group for everybody in our sport. We imagine within the precept of making protected communities the place all athletes, and group members, have a spot,” the assertion learn.
“Whereas we perceive there are a number of views, USA Fencing will proceed to have interaction in respectful, research-based dialogue and assessment as coverage evolves within the Olympic and Paralympic motion in addition to home regulation, hate speech of any variety is just not acceptable—on-line or in particular person. Let’s preserve the dialog respectful and the strip welcoming to all.”
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