Last week, British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies raised eyebrows for insisting that it was unfair to allow transgender athletes to compete against natural-born women. Now, Davies has spoken out again despite the outrage her comments kicked up last week.
Davies caught criticism last week for saying that “fundamental differences” between men and women make transgender athletes too powerful to compete against natural-born women.
But on Tuesday, Davies was back to push her point after she discovered the story of Gabrielle Ludwig, a trans woman in her 50’s who became a basketball player for San Joaquin Delta College, in Stockton, California. Despite having both a weight advantage, and being over a foot taller than the natural-born women she was competing against.
The tale of the trans player was first reported back in 2012, but Davies thought Ludwig’s being allowed to compete against obviously weaker opponents was illustrative of her claim that it is unfair for trans athletes to compete against women.
Davies jumped to her Twitter account to note that Ludwig’s membership on the college basketball team was hardly an example of a “level and fair playing field.”
“I just don’t understand how anyone can say this is a level & fair playing field,” she tweeted. “1000% increase in trans women taking part in sport recently. It’s a serious topic that has to be honestly dealt with for safety as much as integrity #fairplay.”
I just don’t understand how anyone can say this is a level & fair playing field. 1000% increase in trans women taking part in sport recently. It’s a serious topic that has to be honestly dealt with for safety as much as integrity #fairplay pic.twitter.com/g2x4crSFdE
— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) March 4, 2019
The Tuesday tweet echoes a previous tweet where Davies advocated to “protect” women’s sports.
“I have nothing against anyone who wishes 2be transgender,” she tweeted last Friday. “However I believe there is a fundamental difference between the binary sex u r born with & the gender u may identify as. To protect women’s sport those with a male sex advantage should not be able 2compete in women’s sport.”
I have nothing against anyone who wishes 2be transgender. However I believe there is a fundamental difference between the binary sex u r born with & the gender u may identify as. To protect women’s sport those with a male sex advantage should not be able 2compete in women’s sport
— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) March 1, 2019
Davies’ opinion of trans athletes echoes that of tennis great Martina Navratilova who recently became the target of attack by transgender activists for saying it is “insane” and “cheating” for transgender athletes to compete against natural-born women.
“You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women,” Navratilova said last December. “There must be some standards and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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