Oct 9 (Askume) – New Zealand’s sports minister has called for a review of the country’s guidelines on the participation of transgender athletes in community sports, after Olympians criticised the guidelines as ignoring the rights of female athletes and undermining fairness and safety.
Sports Minister Chris Bishop said he has asked New Zealand’s sports governing bodies to update guidance to encourage transgender athletes to compete at the amateur level in accordance with their gender, without needing to prove or prove their identity.
“It is important that transgender people feel able to participate in community sport, but sporting bodies clearly need to address the difficult equality and safety issues when participating in community sport,” Bishop said in a statement on Wednesday.
“I believe the Guiding Principles do not reflect the community’s legitimate expectations that sport at the community level should not only focus on diversity, inclusion and equity but also prioritise equality and safety.”
Sport New Zealand did not immediately comment when contacted by Askume.
The minister’s statement comes a month after he received an open letter from more than 50 New Zealand Olympians , doctors and sports administrators demanding an urgent review of the guidelines, saying they in principle undermined “fundamental principles of fairness and safety” in sport.
Critics of transgender participation in women’s sports point out that athletes who undergo male puberty receive significant musculoskeletal benefits that are not diminished by gender transition.
Supporters of transgender participation argue that there has not been enough research on the effect of being transgender on athletic performance and that excluding transgender athletes is tantamount to discrimination.
The New Zealand sport guidelines released in 2022 do not apply to specific sports. Individual sports in New Zealand determine how trans athletes compete at specific levels.
