British Cycling inclusion policy and new CEO

[GonadTheGaul]

I've been a lurker on the boards for some time and I'm an angry woman and a cyclist! British Cycling's inclusion policy (that came out coincidentally just before the announcement that one their junior academy riders was going to transition MTF) has been discussed here before and now British Cycling have a new CEO starting early next year, maybe it's worth writing to him about it? Their new CEO is Brian Facer who is currently CEO of London Irish Rugby Club. He should know about the World Rugby transgender policy, which they developed based on actual evidence showing that transwomen still retained the advantages of being biologically male even if they complied fully with the rules on testosterone levels. The World Rugby evidence is all available online and shows that transwomen are still 25-50% stronger, 30% more powerful, 40% heavier and around 15% faster than female athletes and that it's unfair to allow them to compete in the women's game.
The British Cycling policy also covers non-competitive events and for those it's based entirely on self-ID with self-ID entry to changing rooms as well as 'women-only' events. There are no checks and the policy says volunteers, coaches, event marshalls etc just have to accept whatever a person says to them. The policy even says they could be disciplined by BC for failing to take anyone at face value. It looks like nobody with any safeguarding training has been involved with producing this policy. No equality impact assessment has been done either (I've seen this in writing from a member of BC staff, in a communication to a friend who has questioned the policy). They have a history of poor treatment of women if you read the books and interviews by elite female cyclists like Nicole Cooke and Lizzie Armitstead, they had a review after the Jess Varnish sexism case in 2017 and 3 years later they've just had to sack a senior coach due to inappropriate relationships with female riders, so serious problems are still there.
I'm planning to write to Brian about poor treatment of female athletes, the transgender policy for competitive cycling which is grossly unfair to women, and the transgender policy for non-competitive events which is a safeguarding disaster waiting to happen. Is anybody in? You can find the policy here www.britishcycling.org.uk/zuvvi/media/media/other/British_Cycling_Transgender_and_Non_Binary_Participation_Policy.pdf

definitely get writing - the op of the previous thread was a cyclist so might have contact with other interested parties? Are you in cycling club?

Do write OP. The majority of the population are with you and as the extent of regulatory capture is revealed alongside the scandalous treatment of minors, there will be increasing scrutiny of these decisions imho.

We're in OP. Up and at 'em!

I'm not in a club, but I'm a member of BC and take part in their organised rides, including 'women-only' ones and have done some volunteering for them. I'm hoping at least a few of my friends are going to write, but it can be a bit of a difficult thing to talk to people about if you don't know where they stand on it. So many women talk about women's under-representation in cycling and sexism so you think they'll get it, and then come out with TWAW!

I'm bumping this because if you're a Britsh Cycling member, you'll have had an email from Brian Facer, who started as CEO on Monday. He says he wants to make British Cycling more responsive, and that he's a firm believer in openness and transparency, and being accountable to members. He wants British Cycling to promote 'better conditions for people on bikes'. I hope 'people' includes female people so I'm hoping as many of us as we can get writing to Brian!

If you want to challenge the British Cycling Transgender policy on cycling competitions there's plenty of evidence about the advantages males have over females and how these continue even if they are competing within the testosterone levels guidelines. For the scientifically-minded there's a new review paper here link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-020-01389-3 with lots of data in it about the performance advantages. The World Rugby website has their guidelines with a clear explanation of the basis for them here playerwelfare.worldrugby.org/?subsection=5 and is more accessible if scientific journals aren't your thing.

If you want to tell Brian about the problems of the self-ID policy for other cycling activities, changing rooms etc then the examples of the withdrawn schools policies in Oxfordshire and CPS guidance could be worth a mention.

British Cycling says it is proud of its campaigns to increase membership among women and get more women cycling but these guidelines will harm women cyclists at recreational, amateur and professional levels. Lets see if Brian really wants to be accountable to members and to make conditions better for female people who are on, or might want to be on a bike.

Thanks for the reminder! I’ll drop Brian a letter.