Key Takeaways
- FINA implements new policy in June 2022 that effectively excludes transgender women athletes from competing in aquatic sports unless they transitioned prior to the onset of puberty or age 12, whichever is later. FINA is defending its policy by saying it is “scientifically-based” and that it “protects competitive fairness”. Its proposed solution to its exclusionary policy is the creation of an open category for elite aquatic sports.
- This policy is not in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s Framework on Fairness, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination on the basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations. The implications of this transphobic and exclusionary policy are that “fairness” and inclusion are competing goals, and that the bodies of both cisgender and transgender women athletes will and should be subject to violations of personal privacy to confirm participation eligibility.
- Egale Canada stands firmly in opposition to this policy, and others like it, for marginalizing, excluding, and eroding the human rights of trans athletes globally