FINA, the governing body in charge of swimming across the globe, announced a new “gender inclusion policy” on Sunday, June 19. Improperly named at best and deeply discriminatory at worst, the 24-page policy outlines a dangerous precedent for the future of transgender women in sports.
The policy essentially prohibits transgender women from competing unless they began to medically suppress production of testosterone before Tanner Stage 2, an early stage of puberty, or age 12 — whichever occurs later. According to the document, male-to-female transition after the onset of puberty grants “persistent legacy effects that will give male-to-female transgender athletes (transgender women) a relative performance advantage over biological females.”
It goes without saying that the United States — or any other country, for that matter — does not provide transgender preteens with the gender-affirming treatment needed to begin transitioning. We don’t live in a country where kids always feel safe coming out to their family and friends, let alone one where they can start undergoing hormone therapy.
According to FINA spokesperson James Pearce, however, the policy doesn’t encourage transgender kids to transition by age 12. If that’s the case, then what’s the difference between this so-called “gender inclusion policy” and an outright ban on transgender woman competing in women’s events?
It’s hard to believe FINA would have done anything about transgender athletes if it weren’t for University of Pennsylvania graduate Lia Thomas. Thomas, who completed 30 months of hormone therapy by November 2021 — well over the NCAA’s requirement of 12 months, at the time — won the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in March, setting off an overblown media frenzy over the fifth-year’s eligibility to compete.
Joanna Harper, a medical physicist and visiting fellow for transgender athletic performance at Loughborough University in England, told the New York Times “trans women are not taking over women’s sports, and they’re not going to.” Harper’s statement perfectly outlines how a media circus has caused an unreasonable moral panic over the “threat” of transgender women — on the contrary, trans athletes are vastly underrepresented across the board and there’s a lack of scientific evidence suggesting that the average trans athlete is any bigger, stronger or faster than their competitors.
It’s also worth noting that Thomas didn’t win by a landslide in every event she competed in at NCAAs, contrary to popular belief. She won the 500-yard freestyle by less than two seconds and finished fifth and eighth in the 200-yard and 100-yard freestyle events, respectively. Thomas didn’t break a single NCAA record, while Kate Douglass — a cisgender athlete — broke 18 records. There are numerous other factors which go into a star swimmer’s athleticism — Michael Phelps, for example, has a wingspan longer than his height and is double-jointed in the chest, so he can kick from his chest instead of just his ribs. Let me repeat: transgender female athletes are not a threat to modern competition.
As it sits, there just isn’t enough research about hormone treatments for transgender athletes. There’s no precedence to enact such a sweeping ban that will limit the rights of transgender women in sports for years to come — and why is age 12 the standard? What are the biggest factors to decide an athlete’s success in the pool? FINA’s policy asks more questions than it answers.
Rulings such as FINA’s “gender inclusion policy” could cause regulations across other sports to spiral out of control, limiting opportunities for transgender athletes and pulling us even further back in time.
FINA’s promise of an open competition category is nothing but words on paper — an inadequate solution to the chaos and anti-trans rhetoric that’s already stemming from the organization’s policy. It effectively rids transgender swimmers’ chances of competing at high-level swim meets — like the World Championships, Pan-Am Games or the Olympics — by creating a category that’ll realistically hold very few swimmers.
Frustratingly, there’s little that transgender swimmers or allies can do on an individual level to protest FINA’s policy. In the meantime, however, listen to your transgender friends. Seek out the facts, but continue to ask questions. Donate to or volunteer for Gender Justice, Athlete Ally or a local organization dedicated to establishing LGBTQ equality on the playing field. For all the slow progress we’ve made regarding transgender rights, FINA’s policy is a definitive step in the wrong direction.
