Can anyone point me in the right direction re trans in sport?

[AlaskanSnow]

I've been following the recent threads wrt Martina, and have fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole - I'm a bit shell shocked at the moment.

I currently play in a mixed sport league - we are very small, only play locally in a sport that is pretty restricted to my county.
The rules state that a team can only have a maximum of 6 males, with the remainder made up of females and I am concerned that a situation could arise where a male is presenting as/say they are female.

Where do I need to go to find out the law on this? I can't seem to find straight answers and I'm getting bogged down in so many different sites.

Are we in self ID already? If a player rocks up to the pitch for a match and says they are female do we need to take that on face value? Or are we able to challenge/say they have to take a male spot?
I think I read it was illegal to ask if they had a GRC?

I'm really confused and would appreciate any help.

There is not a law - sporting bodies are making their own judgment. Some allow people to compete on the basis of gender identity and some are going on a case by case basis.
The best thing to do is probably email your sports governing body.

there is no law against asking for a GRC. The law prevents disclosure of a GRC where it has been obtained in official capacity.

A GRC is essentially irrelevant to sport, and the Equality Act allows sporting teams to exclude people with male bodies on fairness grounds, GRC or not.

So self ID is essentially here, but it's not something you need to follow.

The problem might come is if you unilaterally make a decision that is contrary to your governing body's policy. Essentially in your rules you need a policy about transgender participation.

That is why I struggled so much then!
Thanks, I'll see if they've considered this yet. If they haven't, is FPFW the best place I should point them to? They seem to have a lot on there.

x post with QCM. Thanks for that - there is hope!

It’s very difficult - the IOC regulations involve checking testosterone levels over a 2 year period which is obviously only possible at an elite level in well funded high profile sports. Whether or not this is an effective way to level the playing field is another matter.

The rules vary from country to country but in the U.K. there is no need to have any medical treatment to have the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’ or to change legal sex.

However, under the 2004 GRA it is legal to exclude somebody from single sex competition because of their birth sex to enable fairness in sport. Unfortunately it doesn’t specify exactly what that means.

The equality law says that you can exclude transwomen on the basis that they have a physical advantage. They specifically use sports as an example where transwomen, GRC or not, can be excluded.

The problem arose because the IOC decided that it was testosterone, and only testosterone, which constituted that physical advantage.

They issued guidelines on that basis, which sporting bodies can adhere to, or not. (I believe a lot of weightlifting bodies, for example, have decided no mixed sex weightlifting, at all.)

We have now reached a point where people are saying it's completely unfair, and the testosterone issue is being challenged.

If, however, you are in a situation where a person has not altered their testosterone, the equality law is quite clear. You can exclude on the basis of their advantage.

And yes, fair play for women are at the forefront of this.

Brilliant. thank you for your help.