Following the Supreme Court ruling, trans women will be banned from women’s teams by the Football Association
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE BY PIXABAY
The Football Association (FA) has decided to ban trans women from playing on women’s football teams, after the Supreme Court ruled the legal definition of “woman” is “biological”.
In April, the Supreme Court ruled that the term “woman” in the Equality Act of 2010 refers only to “biological” women, excluding the trans+ communities. Following the ruling, several sports bodies, including the FA, England Netball and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), have decided not to allow trans women to compete on women’s teams.
The FA ban will come into effect from 1 June and the announcement came only a month after the FA said it would continue to allow trans women who have undergone male puberty to play in the women’s game.
The FA promised that they would still try to be inclusive to trans players and would reach out to those the ban affects. “We will understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify,” it said, and added that they will talk to players about ways they can still stay in the game. They have also said they will offer therapy for those affected.
Natalie Washington, campaign lead for Football v Transphobia, spoke to BBC Sport about the ban and remarked on how this will effectively push trans women out of sport altogether. “It’s going to be very mentally challenging and actually potentially physically dangerous for those people to go back and play in the men’s game – if they ever even did play in the men’s game.”
The ban on trans women competing on women’s teams for England Netball will come into effect on 1 September, though the body has said there will be a mixed netball game available to everyone. The ECB, similarly, has banned trans women from the women’s teams but will have a mixed category.
Prior to the ECB decision, an insider told The Guardian that “the legal advice is that we will have to follow a similar route” to the FA and England Netball. Meanwhile, LGBTQIA charity Stonewall spoke about the FA decision and said it was “incredibly disappointing” that the ban was put in place before the Supreme Court’s ruling had been properly worked through by lawyers.
“Hasty decisions, without a full understanding of the practical implications and before any changes to guidance have gone through the necessary consultation and parliamentary process, isn’t the answer.”
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