New British Cycling trans policy

[PoshCoffee]

The new British Cycling policy goes public at 11am tomorrow. Anyone dare to speculate on the outcome? Will it be a win for women?

Genocide apparently??? 😳

I am so happy to hear this news!

As one upset EB is better than lots of upset women Emily will just have to suck it up just like women being made to race against Emily have had to.

But that's for competitive sport, the policy for Breeze is that rides have to be inclusive of transwomen and non-binary people.

I'm not so comfortable with that being new to leading rides and it would definitely change the dynamic of the group.

Jolly good. It didn't seem noteworthy at the time but a couple of weeks ago (as I knew it was coming) but Swim England are introducing a similar policy for all competitions from 1 September.

Race organisers have been instructed to amend all their race packs (the rules and regs) for all swim competitions.

Very pleased to see this policy. Still some issues (grassroots cycling, language of sex being 'assigned' at birth rather than observed) but it's the only fair and safe way for all sport.

My god the hyperbole! Saying s/he can't plan for the future as s/he won't be allowed to live anymore

Bridges' mum has blocked me on twitter but christ on a bike that statement is completely unhinged.

I'm concerned for Emily's mental health, seriously.

Comparing this decision with Rwandan genocide and saying it is an act of violence is completely insane.

Once again, this is not even the bare minimum. Open/female categories, absolutely. But non-competitive women's sport is still effectively mixed sex. I could put up with that if times were recorded separately and (for example) men claiming to be women only got to race if there were not enough women competitors, or something like that. You can't leave community sport out of the new policy - where are the young women cyclists going to come from if they are regularly thrashed by males? What about changing rooms etc? This is obviously intended as a compromise, but it's ridiculous.

I hope Swim England don't do the same - there are only a limited number of lanes in a pool. Girls and women will be pushed out.

So many weeping TRAs are planning on leaving TERF island.

Tatty bye!

I also like that the headlines state that 'transgender women are banned from female cycling competitions' making it clear that they are not banned from competing at all.

I think that is a step in the right direction.

It's good news but what about the women and girls coming up from grassroots level? I remember how many hours of rowing training my daughter used to put in to get a place in the top boat as a teenager. I honestly think she would have given up the sport a lot earlier if a boy had taken her place in the boat. (And the honest truth is a mediocre boy could have taken her place without putting in all the hours of training she did)

Great news but as others have said grassroots is still a massive issue. Our top female athletes get their start there and barriers to fairness, safety and dignity at that level means more girls will drop out or not even begin in the first place. This must be addressed at all levels of sport.

The BBC coverage completely glosses over Bridges' crash in 2019 which completely fucked his burgeoning pro cycling career. In 2020, Bridges announced he was transitioning

Comment below

This is not a win for sanity.
Those athletes that become elite need to progress through competitive ranks.
Are they still expected to prove their worth and ability against blokes, before they reach elite status.
Organisations like the BCU and UCI are spineless, virtue signalling cowards. They have no right to manage elite sport for women.
I don’t know how this is going to ever be resolved, but it will get very ugly before sanity is restored.

Brilliant.

All sports need to protect women born as women from men who think they are women but have no idea really.

Good grief! That is one fuck tonne of hyperbole!

However, if those boys are barred from professional competitions, will they bother to progress in the amateurs? Its not brilliant, but I think we are looking at a move in the right direction for professional sport, now we have female-only categories for rugby, swimming and cycling. We need to keep going.

Completely unhinged from reality and deeply self absorbed.

Indeed they can continue to cycle against men. Why should they cycle against women.

Emily Bridges is planning an exit plan from this 'terrible island' at the moment because she cannot cycle against women! Wow. She seriously needs to look at problems faced in other countries. She can still cycle against men.

What a loony.

Not only a victory for women in sport, but for common sense also.

Reported in the Guardian, fairly neutrally 😮 The new rules will not apply for a few months.

Tbf to Bridges, cycling have she-lly shallied around I'm not surprised they're gutted. Oh well, life goes on.

The 'open' category is brilliant.
Of course, those born female even if they become transmen will probably still compete in the female category if they want any chance of winning.
Leaving those born male to compete in the open category alongside other males, which means that in effect there will be two categories, female and male