Ban trans women from female sports, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer tells ... trends now

Transgender athletes should be banned from competing against women, the Culture Secretary told sporting chiefs yesterday.

Lucy Frazer said officials had a duty to give female athletes a 'sporting chance' because male-born rivals have an 'indisputable edge'.

She summoned representatives of sports including cricket and football to a meeting yesterday to urge them to stop transgender athletes competing against women at the elite level.

Her intervention follows a landmark review of NHS gender identity services for children and young people that raised major concerns about the country's approach to transgender issues.

Writing for the Mail, Ms Frazer says sports governing bodies need to set out an 'unambiguous position' on the subject.

 She insists that despite government guidance urging them to consider fairness and safety, some authorities are 'not going far or fast enough'.

'In competitive sport, biology matters. And where male strength, size and body shape gives athletes an indisputable edge, this should not be ignored,' she writes.

'By protecting the female category, they can keep women's competitive sport safe and fair and keep the dream alive for the young girls who dream of one day being elite sportswomen.

'We must get back to giving women a level playing field to compete. We need to give women a sporting chance.'

During the summit yesterday, Ms Frazer encouraged the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Football Association to ban trans athletes from competing against women at the elite level.

She urged them to follow the lead of other sports, including swimming, cycling, rowing and athletics, which have put in place rules to protect biological women. 

The ECB and FA's policies are under review but permit transgender women to compete in female competitions subject to certain conditions.

Also present at yesterday's meeting were representatives from the Rugby Football Union, British Cycling and Swim England. The bodies updated Ms Frazer with their policies and the challenges they face in implementing them, sources said.

In 2021, the Sports Council Equality Group published its transgender inclusion guidance for governing bodies, making clear that balancing transgender inclusion, safety and fairness where sex can have an impact on a result, is not always possible.

The report concluded that there could be no 'one size fits all' approach across sport, and that ruling bodies define the best options for their sport.

Ms Frazer's intervention in the debate is the latest move by ministers to tackle the spread of radical gender ideology following the landmark Cass Review.

The review found that children experiencing gender distress and wanting to transition had been let down by a lack of research and 'remarkably weak' evidence on medical interventions such as puberty blockers.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has criticised a 'culture of secrecy' in gender treatment, while women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch attacked the 'cowardice' of public bodies. 

Mrs Badenoch said the Cass recommendations could not be implemented until the Government addressed the 'underlying problem' of 'ideological capture' in British institutions.

A recent BBC survey found more than 100 elite sportswomen were uncomfortable with transgender women competing in female categories in their sport.

Among them is Olympic medallist Sharron Davies who has accused men of 'stealing' from women in sport by allowing trans athletes to compete against them.

A report by Fair Play for Women earlier this year found women and girls were quitting sports after being injured and intimidated by transgender competitors.

Last week, World Netball announced it would be banning transgender women from competing in

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