World elite swimming body FINA bans trans athletes unless they’ve fully transitioned by TWELVE

From TODAY, trans athletes won’t be able to compete in elite swimming competitions after governing body FINA voted to ban them.

Trans elite athletes are few and far between as it is but from now on they are banned from all swimming competitions run by the international swimming governing body FINA in a sweeping ruling that also includes the stipulation that in order to compete, a trans person would have had to have ‘completed’ transitioning by 12 years old.

Their reasoning for this is that the trans athletes cannot have gone through any part of puberty but the amount of trans people who have transitioned by 12-years-old in infinitesimal, especially considering many countries are striving to ban any kind of gender affirming treatment under 18 making FINA’s ruling impossible for most trans youth. In Alabama, for example, it is now a felony to provide such services.

The reaction has been mixed to say the least. Loud advocates for this kind of change in rules have been swift to praise FINA’s decision with professional swimmers and broadcasters airing their views:

I can’t tell you how proud I am of my sport @fina & @fina_president for doing the science, asking the athletes/coaches and standing up for fair sport for females. Swimming will always welcome everyone no matter how you identify but fairness is the cornerstone of sport https://t.co/1IaMkIFOkX

— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) June 19, 2022

BREAKING: Fina, swimming’s world governing body, has banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s elite races if they’ve gone through any part of male puberty. Finally, common sense prevails! https://t.co/GZUSVqbnfP pic.twitter.com/p2hMmiftn1

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 19, 2022

On the other side of the argument, the trans community has, of course, reacted with disappointment and dismay:

Swimming is our national sport, it’s at the core of who we are as an island nation. FINA’s decision removes fair access to swimming. It is untenable, unsporting & unfair to say that unless a child has transitioned before the age of 12 she can’t compete at the professional level🧵

— Joe Ball (@Joe_c_Ball) June 20, 2022

Wow, so it’s even more egregious than I thought – it seems FINA want to essentially make all athletes subject to random gender testing, in the same way as they do drug testing. The gender secret police. This puts a lot of women at significant risk https://t.co/IpJZeb51qJ

— Natalie Washington (@Transsomething) June 19, 2022

This is horrific. FINA has chosen to disregard science and bow to political pressure brought about by vicious anti-trans propaganda. No young trans woman would meet this criteria without access to proper health care, which, itself, is being banned in many places. Ludicrous. https://t.co/WWMgbbgE1e

— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) June 19, 2022

Well, we say the trans community with the usual obvious exception:

It worked! I took a lot of heat – but what’s fair is fair! If you go through male puberty you should not be able to take medals away from females. Period. https://t.co/qqZq7gnt6g

— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) June 19, 2022

British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries have already called for ALL elite sport to adopt a similar stance to FINA citing fairness and ‘the science’. There is no study into trans people in elite sport and the governing body for the Olympics, the IOC, has different policies in place.

As always, the argument is toxic beyond belief and FINA’s suggestion that they create a new ‘open’ category comes with its own set of problems. All of this stems from ONE trans swimmer Lia Thomas who made headlines around the world when she won the highest US national college swimming title back in March.

Both sides of the argument talk about ‘the science’ and ‘fairness in sport’ but as with ALL trans issues these days, the trans minority is the most attacked and vulnerable. We shall see in the coming months what sort of an effect this ruling has on the myriad of other sports around the world where this argument rages on.