#usoc

Trudy Ring at The Advocate:

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports, complying with an executive order from Donald Trump. The committee “quietly changed its eligibility rules on Monday,” The New York Times reports, with a “short, vaguely worded paragraph” outlining the new policy. The paragraph says the committee is “committed to protecting opportunities for athletes participating in sport” and will work with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, and the national governing bodies of each Olympic sport “to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.” Executive Order 14201, signed by Trump February 5, opposes the presence of trans women — the order refers to them as men — in women’s sports and threatens federal funding to schools and athletic associations that are trans-inclusive. Trump preceded the signing with a rambling speech filled with falsehoods about trans athletes, saying they have won "more than 3,500 victories" and "invaded more than 11,000 competitions." Neither statement is true.

He also claimed that "a male boxer stole the women’s gold medal" at the Paris Olympics after supposedly "brutalizing his female opponent so viciously that she had to forfeit." Trump was apparently referring to Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who became the target of bigoted rumors by right-wing influencers who claimed she was trans, although she is not. The National Collegiate Athletic Association quickly changed its rules to bar trans women from women’s sports, even though only a handful of trans athletes were competing at NCAA schools. The Olympic committee had previously allowed each sport’s governing body to set rules for trans participation. In a statement emailed to the Times Tuesday, the committee said that indeed, the policy had changed, because “as a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations.” The committee had several conversations with federal officials before making the change. The Ted Stevens Act, authored by the late U.S. senator from Alaska, established the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) bars trans women from competing in women’s competitions, putting the organization compliant with Donald Trump’s anti-trans executive order barring trans women from women’s sports (EO 14201).

See Also:

The 19th News: Without public notice, U.S. Olympic officials exclude transgender women from competing

Alyssa Tirrell at MMFA:

In late December, USA Boxing released a new set of guidelines for the inclusion of trans competitors, and right-wing media responded by criticizing the regulations, relying on anti-trans tropes and misinformation in their coverage. GOP members of Congress have since introduced twin legislation that promises to ban all trans competitors from the Olympic and amateur levels in any sport, citing the new regulations as a motivating concern and repeating the anti-trans framing popularized by right-wing media's backlash.  

While the USA Boxing guidelines are a departure from a trend of sports organizations banning trans participation, the requirements are considered stringent. Athletes under the age of 18 must compete “as their birth gender,” and adult competitors are required to obtain genital surgery and regular hormone testing, both in the four years preceding competition and throughout any competitive period. Nevertheless, right-wing media are attacking the rules, which USA Boxing says build on the consensus of several medical groups and international athletic federations.  On January 3, Fox News' America's Newsroom co-host Dana Perino referred to the eligibility requirements for trans female boxers as “nonsense.” Hosts and guests repeatedly referred to trans women as “men” or “guys,” and co-host Bill Hemmer quoted former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines' claim that “it will take a woman getting killed before these misogynistic fools wake up.”   Fox’s Outnumbered also said a woman could die because of the new rules, arguing that the regulations would lead to “one-punch killings.” Co-host Harris Faulkner cited Gaines' campaign against the inclusion of trans swimmers, misgendering Gaines' former competitor Lia Thomas in the process and expanding the panel's criticism to trans inclusion in noncontact athletic competitions as well. 

Despite such concerns over safety, coverage disregarded USA Boxing's medical citations, which include the recommendations of Boston Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine and Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital. Instead, for instance, The Ingraham Angle platformed the perspective of UFC fighter Colby Covington, who argued that “it doesn't matter what their hormone levels or pronouns are,” because “when they dig up their bones in 200 years, their bones won't leave pronouns.” (Actually, archeologists are capable of imputing that a skeleton may have belonged to a transgender person after more than 200 years.) [...] USA Boxing responded to backlash by restating that it is in compliance with federal law. The following day, U.S. Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced twin legislation in both the House and the Senate that would “prohibit any governing body recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) from allowing men to participate in any athletic event intended for females.” 

A joint press release cited the USA Boxing guidelines and repeated right-wing media's anti-trans framing. Tuberville's statement claimed that “men should not be competing in women’s sports at any level—and especially not in a sport like boxing. Whether in little league or the Olympics, it’s unsafe, it’s unfair, and it’s just plain wrong. This bill will ensure that the Olympics are fair to American women who train their whole lives to represent our country on the world stage.”   The press release also cited the support of a number of anti-trans organizations, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Independent Women's Forum, and the Independent Council on Women’s Sports and quoted several anti-trans figures, including American Principles Project President Terry Schilling and — yet again — Riley Gaines.