Madrid, (EFE).- The International Women’s Sports Consortium (ICFS) will celebrate its first two months of life this Thursday, after presenting itself on January 9 as the main international group to defend the preservation of women’s sports categories throughout the world.
Faced with the opening of international organizations such as the IOC to the participation of trans athletes in female competitions, the consortium expresses its “conviction that the governing bodies of the sport must comply with the fundamental principles of security, privacy and equity, together with the treaties international laws that prohibit discrimination against women based on sex.
Guarantee the equality and safety of women athletes
The ICFS presented itself as “an apolitical collective, made up of women sports advocates who believe that the equality and safety of women athletes must be guaranteed, which is only achieved through a category dedicated exclusively to them: competitors who are biologically women. ”.
His first initiatives include letters sent to the World League and the International Surfing Association, as well as to World Athletics -international athletics federation- with a call to restore equality for women in athletics, since the body “ allows transgender and DSD male athletes to compete in female events if they suppress their testosterone.”
“This does not restore equity for women in athletics. All scientific evidence shows that testosterone suppression in adults cannot reverse significant male differences in morphology and athletic performance. The effects of androgens in the body are permanent,” the letter added.
In it, the “ICFS calls on the national federations governing athletics to reject the proposed policy for transgender athletes and demand that World Athletics reconsider and consult with ICFS, to ensure scientific accuracy and include the voice of women in this issue”.
The Consortium’s founders come from sports advocacy groups in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Mexico, Central America, and Spain.
Bodies compete, not feelings
The Spanish representation falls on the Alianza Contra el Borrado de las Mujeres, which defends that “in sport, bodies compete, not feelings” and that “prioritize in sports competitions the ‘sensible gender’ over the ‘sex’ factor, which marks the competitive advantage between men and women, seriously jeopardizes the sporting achievements of women”.
The creation of ICFS follows events that in recent years have marked dates that will remain in sports history, such as August 2, 2021, when New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first trans athlete to participate in the Olympic Games. . Her result was far from predictable, since after three failed starting attempts she was disqualified.
Hubbard was an Olympian after the IOC changed its rules to allow transgender athletes to compete as women if their levels of testosterone, the hormone that influences muscle mass growth, are below a threshold.
Her case was joined by others, such as that of the American swimmer Lia Thomas, from whom the governor of Florida withdrew the gold medal she had won in a women’s event of a university championship after having competed as a man in her country, where A Connecticut court ruled last December in favor of transgender athletes participating in women’s competitions, because not doing so amounts to discrimination.
“Trans people are nothing more than people. Transphobia starts with a simple look”
In Spain, in July 2022, Valentina Berr decided to leave football after four years competing as a transsexual footballer, the second to do so as a member of the federation in Spain after Alba Palacios, due to the suffering caused by the treatment of her case by institutions, social networks and the media.
Her situation contrasts with that of Sandra Jiménez de Castro, player of the handball team of the LGTBI multi-sports club GMadrid Sports, the first federated trans of this sport in Spain, who asks that she not be prohibited from playing in the category that belongs to her and that she assures that “transphobia begins with a simple look, different treatment, different expectations”
“Before going to the first training session I was terrified, I was afraid of being rejected, that they would not feel comfortable sharing certain spaces with me, that they would treat me differently. But ‘Them’ have made me feel safe among their ranks, feel welcomed and supported. They have given me hope, self-confidence, love and friendship. I feel that I am very lucky, that I am one more, ”she assured.
In statements released this Wednesday by GMadrid Sports, a club that works for the rights of the LGTBI collective from the sports and social spheres, Sandra Jiménez applauds the recent approval of the Trans Law and launches a wish and a message for the collective.
“I hope that people realize that trans people are not more than that, people. It is worth taking the risk. It is in our hands to reach the day when our participation in the sport is not news. And that they can be the example that allows another girl to see that it is possible to play the sport that she wants, ”she said.