As people and politicians in the United States continue to debate whether or not transgender women should be allowed to participate in women’s sports, one other country is making a move that could ban transgendered women from competing against other women throughout the country.
According to a report from Liam Napier of the NZ Herald, the New Zealand government is threatening to withhold millions of dollars of public funding from the country’s public sports bodies if they do not prevent transgender athletes from participating in public sports throughout the nation.
The policy, which is led by the group New Zealand First, says that it is to “ensure publicly funded sporting bodies support fair competition that is not compromised by rules relating to gender.”
It’s a pretty significant move for a country to move towards banning transgender athletes at a nationwide level, and this led to a lot of reactions on social media as a result.
The NZ First-National policy agreement targets transgender athletes' participation in community sports.
"Transgender athlete and two-time national champion mountain biker Kate Weatherly fears it will lead to athletes being forced into men's competitions or sidelined completely." https://t.co/vm14cIqo6A
— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) December 20, 2023
It would take around five minutes for cis athletes to stop this abomination if they chose to. It would take the All Blacks one minute. https://t.co/kmshZDMzvU
— Giovanni Tiso (@gtiso) December 20, 2023
Our government has done a masterclass in gaslighting. First, they come at us with their benevolent racism, and now their benevolent transphobia. Who will be targeted next? https://t.co/nLYDJcBUyA
— Ms WonderOutLoud (@MsWonderOutLoud) December 21, 2023
Good, detailed piece on Govt's ban/separation of trans athletes in grassroots sport here.
NZ First MP Andy Foster says funding will be withheld from sporting orgs which don't comply. https://t.co/yjlAtgXvKL
— Isaac Davison (@isaac_davison) December 20, 2023
What a gross government this is shaping up to be https://t.co/ghNsxvYEbW
— antihobbes (@antihobbes) December 20, 2023
https://twitter.com/proudcisaxolotl/status/1737671937407750529?s=20
Is this what freedom looks like?
https://t.co/tVA4LWYXbz — James (@JamesW228) December 21, 2023
In the past, the governments of New Zealand have been reluctant to tackle this issue head-on, instead opting to leave individual sporting organizations to make their own decisions on the matter. But it seems that this approach is changing under the current government.
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