UN Official Prioritizes Transgender Rights in Sports

By | July 11, 2024

GENEVA, July 12 (C-Fam) A UN rights expert advocates for the rights of transgender athletes to participate in sports without “discrimination based on sex characteristics” and labels opposition to biological males competing in women’s sports as hate speech.

Alexandra Xanthaki, UN Special Rapporteur for Cultural Rights, spoke against transgender “segregation” in sports and asked for sport governing bodies to adopt “gender-inclusive” policies at a recent council meeting on human rights in sports. Xanthaki said that when it comes to “transgender inclusion in sport, there has been some progress” and that it is important to respect the bodies and gender identities of all athletes.

Xanthaki said that “LGBTQ+ athletes are facing exclusion, harassment, and discriminatory policies that undermine their participation in sport and their well-being.”

In her report to the Human Rights Council on the protection of human rights in sport, Xanthaki emphasized that the discussion of prohibiting biological males from joining women’s sports due to a binary understanding of human sexuality “mirrors decades-old gender stereotyping and policing of gender norms in sport.”

Xanthaki did not address the impact of allowing biological males to compete with women to women’s enjoyment of fair, free-of-discrimination competitions. Rather, Xanthaki claimed that “voices advocating for the exclusion or segregation for transgender athletes are not seriously taken into account” and that sports-related policies must be supported by science as well as the “lived experiences” of transgender athletes.

Several organizations supported the Rapporteur’s claims.

Echoing Xanthaki’s stance, the International Lesbian and Gay Association flagged that “the categoric or blanket exclusion of trans, gender diverse, or intersex people from sport is a prima facie violation of their human right to live free from discrimination” and pointed to “stigma, fearmongering, and misinformation” around conversations on LGBT inclusion in sports.

Others opposed the position staked out by Xanthaki.

A representative from ADF International drew attention to a “growing chorus of voices” that ask for women’s sports to remain women-only and the biological differences between men and women.

In response to statements arguing for the exclusion of biological males from female categories in sports, Xanthaki said, “I am so happy that even the hate speech we heard today in this room about trans athletes and the denial of individuals’ right to determine their gender is not prevailing in the world.”

At a separate event on the margins of the meeting of the council, two female athletes described the anguish of having to compete against biological males who identified as transgender women. They described how the biological males had stronger bodies which gave them a clear competitive advantage. At the event hosted by ADF International, Runner Chelsea Mitchell said, “Losing a state championship is hard—but losing because the race isn’t fair is gut-wrenching.”

Xanthaki’s approach contrasts with other UN rights experts. In December of last year, in a letter for the Biden Administration, Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur for violence against women and girls, asked that women not be forced to compete against biological males in sports. Alsalem said that this could “potentially upend decades of advances in athletic opportunities for women and girls by opening women’s sports teams to males with intrinsic biological advantages.”

 

 

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