Swim England updates transgender policy to have ‘female’ and ‘open’ categories
The new policy comes into effect from September.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Swim England has updated its transgender policy to include ‘female’ and ‘open’ categories for licensed events from September.
The female category will be restricted to athletes with a birth sex of female, the governing body has announced, while the open category will feature athletes born male, trans or non-binary competitors and any competitor not eligible for the female category.
The new policy comes into effect on September 1 and it will apply to competitions under Swim England’s auspices including those organised by its member regions, counties and clubs.
“Whilst Swim England’s existing policy regarding the use of hormonal therapy was found to be effective at reducing performance advantage, it was insufficient to negate it completely and trans females therefore likely retain an advantage over their cisgender peers,” a statement from Swim England read.
“As a result, Swim England believes that the restriction of certain competition to birth sex females to be justified and proportionate in the pursuit of fair competition.”
The policy differs across various disciplines and contains provision for self-identification at lower-level events.
Last year World Aquatics barred any competitor who had been through any part of male puberty from its female events.