I'm Outraged That Trans Women Are Completely Banned from USAC
The following opinions are completely my own.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, USAC has announced a change in the rules and put a blanket ban on trans women competing in women’s races. Which is wild, because trans women are women. Period. I already made my thoughts about this clear when the UCI did something similar two years ago.
“Status will be determined during the membership application or Competitive Event registration process. When applying for membership or registering for a Competitive Event in the Women’s Category, an individual represents and warrants to USA Cycling that she is Female, which creates a rebuttable presumption that the individual's sex identified at birth was female. USA Cycling may challenge this presumption. The determination of whether an individual is Female may be established through the individual’s original birth certificate or other reliable facts. Only USA Cycling shall have the right to contest the individual’s Women’s Category status.”
So pray tell… even if this was fair… HOW WILL YOU VERIFY THESE THINGS? What are these “other reliable facts?” I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. SO SO MUCH. Did I mention I hate it?
It’s a very short and slippery slope from transphobia to racism. The two are cousins if not twinsies. Caster Semenya has spent literal YEARS fighting for her own right to exist and compete as a woman, even though she was assigned female at birth (AFAB).
Are we throwing the rest of the science out the window? What are the new rules for testosterone levels? Will we still be forcing folks who were assigned female at birth to supress those levels if they aren’t within the liking of these governing bodies?
To be clear, these rules have nothing to do with being fair to women, or even putting science first. These changes are plain and simple discrimination. USA Cycling (USAC) has no choice but to follow the lead of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) since failure to comply will put them in jeopardy of losing their national governing body status.
The Union Cyclistes Internationales (UCI) and the USOPC have made it clear that they don’t want trans women in the sport of cycling. There are people who have been working towards this for a very long time, using any and every sinister method they could come up with.
They tried to use science as a prop for a while, but the rules were so damn unclear that it just caused chaos. But now the gloves are off and the right people have been convinced, so here we are.
I’ll be the first to say I’m not a big fan of USAC as their handling of so many things including the rules around the inclusion of trans women in sport has not been good, even before this latest change. That is to say, obligation or not, they too, can eat rocks.
While it may not be a top priority for many, sport is a human right, which means bike racing is a human right. These views on gender normativity aren’t even archaic, because gender expression has been fluid in most cultures for several millennia. This is new age nonsense that is ruining the sport.
As per usual, I’m rambling. But I’m mad. I’m mad that my friends can’t compete in what I think is a super fun sport. I’m mad that I can’t be proud of this space despite all the work myself and others have put in to make it more inclusive. At the end of the day, none of us are free until we’re all free. And I cannot in good conscience continue to feed money to an organization that doesn’t think we should all be free.
That being said, I have some really hard decisions to make in regards to Thee Abundance Project, and it comes at just the right time as I’m now planning for 2026.
What a mess.