Football’s ban on transgender women draws strong reaction

In a statement, the FA cited the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the Equality Act as the reason for the change of policy, further adding an email to transgender women registered with them that they had taken “legal counsel” on the issue.

“Our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science, or the operation of policy in grassroots football then we would review it and change it if necessary,” the statement from the FA said.

Katie Startup, a goalkeeper for Manchester City in the Women’s Super League (WSL), says that the decision is antithetical to what women’s football stands for with its long history of being a “place of inclusivity for the LGBTQIA+ community”.

“Fighting for inclusion and equal opportunities is an inextricable part of the identity of women’s football,” she told The Observer.

“Sport and football has the power to imbue in individuals a sense of self, belonging, community and physical and mental wellbeing. I believe no one should be excluded from that. We should be encouraging participation and equal opportunities within football, not building further barriers to those already faced by members of the trans community on a daily basis.

“Trans women, like all women, should have the right and opportunity to access and feel safe in football. I hope that women’s football and its community can continue to be the space it has always been, where people feel safe to simply be who they are”.

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced in a similar statement on Friday that with “immediate effect” only those whose biological sex is female would be eligible to play women’s or girls’ cricket.

The ECB does not have the same registration system as football so is unaware how many transgender women currently play. Cricket also differs from football in that it does not have a men’s category, but an open one instead.

The ECB told The Observer it’s “ultimately for clubs to make sure they field eligible players”, which raises concerns for how this will be checked and enforced. There was recently a case in junior football where two 11-year-old girls were accused of being boys by their opponents, and the game was stopped.

The Supreme Court argued that references to sex in the Equality Act only referred to “biological” sex, or the sex that someone is assigned at birth.

Previous interpretations of the Equality Act had considered a transgender person with a Gender Recognition Certificate as being the sex the certificate declared them to be.

This means that a transgender woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate should be considered male, although gender reassignment remains a protected characteristic.

Sources say that the FA are concerned that the ambiguity of the Supreme Court ruling would leave them open to litigation, if they didn’t ban transgender women.

The decision comes only three weeks after the FA updated their guidance on transgender participation to incorporate “match observation” – where an FA official could check that any transgender participants were not endangering other players – in order to ensure safety and fairness.

The FA has long allowed transgender women to play women’s football providing they had regular blood tests to determine testosterone levels with annual reviews, resisting until this point the decision from other sports to ban transgender women who had previously gone through male puberty.

The ruling is expected to affect around 20 transgender women who are currently affiliated with the FA. None of these women are known to be playing professional football.

It will not be a total ban on transgender women participating in women’s football, as not all leagues are affiliated with the FA.

As was the case in 1921 where it was not possible to stop women playing in public parks, transgender women will still be able to participate in women’s leagues that are not affiliated to the FA and that choose not to bring in their own ban.

But there are concerns that the ruling will generate confusion about where transgender women can and cannot play, putting their safety at risk.

In an email seen by The Observer, the FA offered affected transgender women six free therapy sessions through Sporting Chance to “help support [them] through this”.

They also suggested players could join mixed football pilot competitions “depending on where [they] live” or “to consider moving [their] enjoyment of affiliated football into coaching or being a match official”.

They concluded by stating that they “do understand that this will be difficult for anyone who simply wants to play the game they love”.

One transgender woman expressed disappointment at receiving a boilerplate email about the decision, the timing of which was a surprise but not necessarily the content, as she had worked closely with Diversity, Equality and Inclusion officers at the FA in order to finally secure her permanent permission to play. She had received that confirmation just three weeks before this decision.

The Supreme Court ruling looks set to have significant implications for single-sex spaces in the UK.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission released guidance suggesting there were occasions where transgender women could not be permitted to access single-sex spaces of either sex. They are yet to provide guidance on sports.

However, some senior legal figures have questioned whether this is the correct interpretation of the ruling.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption said the ruling gave organisations the right to exclude transgender people from single-sex spaces without being sued under the provisions of the Equality Act, but it did not say that it was necessary for them to do so.

“It’s quite important to note that you are allowed to exclude trans women from these facilities,” he said. “But you are not obliged to do it.”

“The judgement does not mean that the sporting authorities have got to limit women’s boxing or women’s football to biological women.”

Campaign group Seen In Sport have welcomed the ban. “We can have a lot of sympathy for those people who have been lied to, but we should also remember there should be compassion for the women and girls who’ve had their rightful places taken, who’ve lost medals, prize money,” Su Wong, a spokesperson, told talkSPORT.

“There is actually a simple solution. Sport is already inclusive. The women’s category, if you protect that, that includes the women, and for everyone else, they are included already. Nobody has a right to identify into a different sports category.”

Photograph Jan Kruger/Getty Images