Transgender women should not be allowed to compete in female sports, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who nonetheless expressed sympathy for those who change their biological gender.
Johnson acknowledged that his opinion might be viewed as “controversial,” but he said it seemed “sensible” to him to keep biological men out of women’s sports, according to the BBC.
“I don’t think that biological males should be competing in female sporting events,” Johnson said during a visit to a hospital in Hertfordshire. “I also happen to think that women should have spaces, whether it’s in hospitals, prison, or changing rooms, which are dedicated to women. That’s as far as my thinking has developed on this issue.”
Johnson stressed it was “vital” to give people considering a gender change “the maximum love and support in making those decisions.”
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The British prime minister indicated the subject was complicated and couldn’t be answered with “one swift, easy” piece of legislation.
The question of transgender athletes’ participation in gendered sports has resulted in increased attention on transgender cyclist Emily Bridges in the United Kingdom. Bridges, a transgender woman who was ruled ineligible from an elite women’s cycling race over the weekend, has been “relentlessly harassed and demonized,” the athlete said.
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On Tuesday, a group of British female cyclists, including retired Olympians, signed a letter asking the Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for sports cycling that oversees international competitions, to rescind a recent rule instituting regulations for transgender participation based on testosterone levels, among other factors.
