{"id":78454,"date":"2024-12-09T14:45:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T21:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=78454"},"modified":"2024-12-09T15:11:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T22:11:25","slug":"athletes-brace-for-proposed-ban-on-transgender-women-in-female-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2024\/12\/09\/athletes-brace-for-proposed-ban-on-transgender-women-in-female-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Athletes brace for proposed ban on transgender women in female competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Sports for all: <\/strong>AJFHL player Mila Preville emphasizes the importance of unity in sports and criticizes the province for proposed policies restricting transgender women from female sports divisions. (Photo by Sasha Sanderson\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Athletes and sports organizations across Alberta are preparing for new laws impacting transgender women and girls in female sports divisions.<\/p>\n

The United Conservative Party introduced Bill 29, the Fairness and Safety in Sports Act<\/em><\/a> this October, with the stated goal of protecting the integrity of female athletic competitions.<\/p>\n

Minister of Tourism and Sport Joseph Schow introduced the bill on Oct. 31. If enacted, the bill will require sports organizations to create \u201cbiological female-only\u201d divisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy does it matter if trans girls get to play sports? They are people too, and athletes, and that’s what they enjoy doing,” said Mila Preville, an Alberta Junior Female Hockey League player and fitness trainer. “Why would we limit that?<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think they’re jumping to conclusions.”<\/p>\n

Preville is non-binary and uses they\/them pronouns. They said the province is trying to govern the personal lives of transgender Albertans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say the law is only justified if cis people are getting the same treatment,\u201d said Preville.<\/p>\n

Cisgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity aligns with the one assigned at birth.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re testing all those cis people to make sure that they’re not on any form of drug, whether it’s performance-enhancing or recreational,\u201d said Preville. \u201cWhy would [being transgender] matter if your body is being regulated in the same way that everybody else is?\u201d<\/p>\n

NDP MLA Rakhi Pancholi said the bill tackles a non-issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no researched or evidenced need that brought this forward, \u201c Pancholi said during the second reading<\/a> of Bill 29, “This is based on satisfying conspiracy theorists within the governing party\u2019s base.”<\/p>\n

According to Pancholi, terms like \u2018sex assigned at birth\u2019 are not used in the bill. But comments from Minister Schow lead her to believe more radical changes could come in the future.<\/p>\n

“There could be situations where girls or women who are participating in sport will be asked to prove their gender,” Pancholi said<\/p>\n

When Preville was a kid, they played in a mixed-gender hockey league. No one forced Preville to move to a female league. They wanted to continue playing with their friends in Grade 8.<\/p>\n

“That was the age everybody switched,” they said. “So I switched,”<\/p>\n

Under the new rules, trans kids may have no say on which league they play in.<\/p>\n

The provincial government has promised to create and expand co-ed divisions for transgender athletes \u2014\u00a0 but low numbers could make compliance with these changes unfeasible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s been no financial support behind this bill,\u201d said Mark Kosak, CEO of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe operate at top capacity in terms of the available coaches, the available facilities, the number of officials, the budget for travel and support staff. There isn’t a whole lot of space to create a third division in any of those categories.”<\/p>\n

The provincial government has promised to provide detailed regulations to guide sports organizations in developing athlete eligibility policies. The province expects changes will be rolled out over the coming year, with requirements implemented by fall 2025.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sports for all: <\/strong>Mila Preville is completing their second year in Mount Royal University’s fitness trainer program. (Photo by Sasha Sanderson\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Athletes and sports organizations across Alberta are preparing for new laws impacting transgender women and girls in female sports divisions. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":938,"featured_media":78449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S2 Trans Sports SS","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-78454","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/938"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78454"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78869,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78454\/revisions\/78869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}