Sports

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Transgender Athlete Sues USA Powerlifting over Competition Ban

Transgender powerlifter JayCee Cooper is suing USA Powerlifting, the sport’s biggest U.S.-based organization, after it barred her from competition on the basis of her gender identity. “It came as a surprise to me that when I applied to compete at my first competition, I was told that I couldn’t compete specifically because I’m a trans woman,” Cooper said at a news conference Tuesday. “I was gutted. I had been training for months and up until that point had experienced so much love and community around the sport.” Cooper’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Minnesota state court by the Minnesota-based advocacy group Gender […]

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Golfer Justin Thomas Apologizes for Using Anti-gay Slur

Golfer Justin Thomas apologized Saturday for using a homophobic slur after he missed a shot. A microphone picked up Thomas using the slur after he didn’t land a putt during the third round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. “There’s absolutely no reason for me to say anything like that. It’s terrible,” Thomas told the Golf Channel after the round. “There’s just no excuse.” Thomas, who could not be immediately reached Sunday, told the Golf Channel the comments do not reflect who he is and said he is “very apologetic.” “As he expressed after his round, we agree that Justin’s […]

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Women Athletes Undergoing Invasive Medical Procedures without Consent

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After training for hours on end, year after year, some women athletes – particularly those competing on the world stage – are getting their careers and successes ripped away because of “sex testing,” practices, which are invasive and medically unnecessary procedures based on disputed science that dictates what “natural” testosterone levels can be for women, and the role it plays in performance. Women from the global south are disproportionately targeted. Sporting officials demand that these women undergo irreversible sterilization surgeries or hormone therapies to have a chance at competing again. Philippa Stewart spoke to Dr. Payoshni Mitra, who has worked […]

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Caster Semenya Takes Olympics Fight to Human Rights Court after Being Told she Can’t Compete without Altering Natural Hormones

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South African runner Caster Semenya has been forced to take her Olympics fight to the European Court of Human Rights after being told she can’t compete without altering her natural hormones. Intersex athlete and Olympic gold medallist Caster Semenya has held back time and time again, having been repeatedly barred from competing in women’s sport unless she modifies her testosterone levels. World Athletics imposes hormone restrictions in women’s events from 400 metres to the mile, and last year tightened the restrictions even further. After a lengthy court battle, in September this year Semenya lost her final appeal to compete in the […]

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Football Association Boss Resigns after Referring to ‘Colored Footballers’ and Claiming Being Gay is a ‘Life Choice’

The chair of England’s Football Association, Greg Clarke, has resigned after referring to ‘coloured footballers’ and saying being gay is a ‘life choice’ in front of parliament. Clarke was, until yesterday, the chair of the Football Association (FA), which governs association football in England, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man. On Tuesday (10 November), Clarke attended a parliamentary hearing with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport via video call. But when answering questions from MPs on diversity in English football, he made a series of offensive and outdated comments about Black people, South Asian people, gay people […]

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Rugby Pro Dan Palmer Comes Out after Years of ‘Despising Himself’

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Dan Palmer has come out as gay, becoming the first Wallabies player and just the second men’s international to do so. In a moving column for the Sydney Morning Herald, the 32-year-old Australian former rugby union player described his mental health problems and drug abuse as he struggled to accept his sexuality, revealing that he regularly cried himself to sleep and even contemplated suicide. “I was incredibly frustrated, angry and desperately sad. I despised myself and the life I was living. I was trapped in a false narrative and could see no way out,” he wrote. “Most nights, I cried myself to sleep and […]

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Trump Administration Forces University to Discriminate Against Trans Athletes

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New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce University has agreed to abolish its trans-inclusive policy for athletics, after pressure from the Trump administration and anti-LGBT+ activists. The university agreed to ditch its trans inclusion policy under an agreement on Saturday (October 17) to head off an investigation by the Trump Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which has previously been accused of “extorting” school districts into dropping trans-inclusive policies.× Under the agreement, the university will rescind its policy permitting transgender athletes to compete in the correct gender category, which was in line with national standards set by the National Collegiate Athletic Association […]

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Soccer Team Walks off Field after Homophobic Slur by Opposing Player

San Diego’s professional soccer team walked off the field during a match that it was winning on Wednesday after an opposing team member allegedly hurled a homophobic slur at an openly gay player. The San Diego Loyal SC said a member of Phoenix Rising “used a homophobic slur directed at Collin Martin.” “In response we have decided to walk off the pitch in protest,” the team wrote on Twitter. Martin is openly gay and came out in 2018. At the time he was said to be the only out gay man in any major professional sport in the U.S. San Diego was winning the match 3-1 when it […]

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Federal Funding Threatened over Transgender Athlete Policy

The U.S. Department of Education is threatening to withhold some federal funding from Connecticut school districts if they follow a state policy that allows transgender girls to compete as girls in high school sports. In response to a complaint filed last year by several cisgender female track athletes who argued that two transgender female runners had an unfair physical advantage, the federal agency’s office for civil rights determined in May that Connecticut’s policy violates the civil rights of athletes who are not transgender. School districts including New Haven, as well as the Capitol Region Education Council, were asked around the […]

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Tokyo Highlights LGBTQ Rights before Olympics with Pride House

Tokyo will open Pride House, Japan’s first permanent such center, next month to raise awareness of LGBTQ rights before and during the rearranged Olympic Games in 2021. Although there have been similar initiatives before previous Games, organizers said Pride House Tokyo, which will open its doors on International Coming Out Day on October 11, is the first to get official International Olympic Committee backing. “Pride House Tokyo aims to educate the world and also Japan of the difficulties the LGBTQ community has playing and enjoying sports … while helping create a safe space for the community too,” Pride House Tokyo […]

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