Dame Kelly Holmes: “I totally support my Trans siblings”

“I have been ignorant in the past about the fight of the Trans community and I now want to see fair and conclusive outcome for those whose gender differs from that assigned at birth, in all walks of life, including sport”

BY DIVA STAFF, IMAGE BY BRETT COVE

Back in June 2022, double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes came out as a gay woman. Since coming out the athlete has advocated for LGBTQIA rights. Today (16 January) the Daily Mail published an article titled “Government looking at crackdown on Trans athletes taking part in female sports”.

Sadly, mainstream news outlets debating Trans inclusion is nothing new. Today, Kelly took to Instagram stories to address the article. She shared that the publication had reached out to her for a comment, but instead of using the quote she provided, they used an outdated quote from 2019.

Setting the record straight, Kelly posted her full quote to Instagram stories and called out the Daily Mail for using an outdated quote to stir up controversy.

On her stories Kelly wrote:

“As an former international athlete, a gay women and now openly a member of the LGBTQIA community, I want to firstly say I totally support my Trans Siblings, I have been ignorant in the past about the fight of the Trans community and I now want to see fair and conclusive outcome for those whose gender differs from that assigned at birth, in all walks of life, including sport.

Firstly I do not believe in a blanket approach. A more nuanced approach of looking at the individual person, sport and level is much better way of keeping sport fair.

For example, there are many sports in which skill, practice and experience pay much more than physical ability. Equally, the vast majority of sport is played on a local playing field where taking part and inclusion, as well as physical and mental health benefits are perhaps more important than winning. There is definitely a discussion to be had as the matter is so complex, but saying that all Trans athletes shouldn’t compete in elite sport isn’t right.

It is important everyone in society is treated fairly and for sport, a scientific approach on this matter is taken, like in other countries were scientific reviews have already happened.”

This statement, which explicitly supports Trans athletes, was an excellent way to combat the Daily Mail’s attempt at causing controversy.

Bobbi Pickard, the CEO of Trans In The City shared that “Dame Kelly Holmes has been on a huge learning curve about the Trans community since coming out last year. It is so positive to see that through the help of the LGBTQIA community she now is beginning to understand the truth about Trans and non binary people and is turning into a real ally for us. I look forward to seeing her ally ship go from strength to strength.”

DIVA magazine celebrates 28 years in print in 2022. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable. 
✨linkin.bio/ig-divamagazine ✨