Hannah Mouncey, r., dominated women’s football in Australia. (Credit: Nicole Garmston)

Sydney, AU – Sport Australia has joined with the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports to establish national guidelines intended to make sports “inclusive” for individuals who identify as transgender or gender diverse.

New guidelines encourage sporting organizations – including coaches, umpires, staff, players, spectators and volunteers – to permit transgender and non-binary athletes to compete against members of the opposite sex, welcome transgender and non-binary athletes into bathroom and shower facilities designated for the opposite sex, place disposal bins for used female hygiene products in male change rooms, convert some or all facilities to “unisex / gender neutral” to accommodate non-binary athletes and provide “non-gendered uniforms” that fit the physique of both sexes.

It is a breach of the guidelines for players to refuse to compete against or participate on a team with transgender and non-binary athletes, fail to affirm their gender with preferred pronouns, say they are in the wrong bathroom or change room, or ask about their bodies.

Transgender athlete Hannah Mouncey served as a consultant for the new guidelines. The 6′ 3, 250-lb tower of muscle dominated football on the Victorian Women’s Football League before being ruled ineligible for the Australian Women’s Football League, and now commands Australian women’s handball. Mr Mouncey praised Sports Australia’s “stand for inclusivity.”

Hannah Mouncey in tangle with woman during a football game. He has broken a woman’s leg during professional sports. (Credit: Nicole Garmston; Courtesy: Mercury)

The document skirts over the advantage of high testosterone levels in sports, claiming research is limited on how the natural hormone affects “transgender women.” The average female body has 2.8 NMOL/L of testosterone, while the average male body has 23-25 NMOL/L. The International Association of Athletics Federation requires men who identify as women to lower their testosterone to 5 nmol/L, while the International Olympic Committee (IOC) permits up to 10 nmol/L of testosterone.

While the document notes that “transgender and gender diverse people have reported experiencing harassment or violence while accessing bathrooms,” there is no mention of how mixed-sex change rooms and restrooms will affect women and girls, who are predominantly the victims of voyeurism and sexual assaults in such facilities.

Hannah Mouncey plays in Asian Handball Federation Championship 2018.

Women’s rights activist and writer Eileen Haley denounced the guidelines as “yet another instance of excluding women in the name of inclusivity”:

My father, a primary schoolteacher, used to say the Queensland Education Department adopted educational theories and practices just as they were being discredited and abandoned in their countries of origin. Well, the same can be said of the Australian Human Rights Commission in relation to the participation of transgender people in sport. Just as outrage grows and spills over in the UK, the USA, etc, due to unfair wins by male-bodied people in women’s sports comps, the AHRC has got out this atrocious faux-naïve document, dripping in trans-extremist ideology, which is likely to send women and girls packing up their sports gear in fury and frustration and heading for home. Yet another instance of excluding women in the name of inclusivity. ~Eileen Haley

The UK and US have seen a growing backlash against gender identity policies in sports. Prominent UK female athletes have come forward to publicly denounce policies that compel female athletes to compete against men who identify as transgender. Student female athletes in the US recently filed a federal anti-discrimination lawsuit challenging transgender policies that have enabled teen male athletes to dominate girls’ teams and collect scholarship money intended for female athletes. Additionally, a recently released Rasmussen Report found that most Americans oppose policies that enable male athletes to compete on female teams, even when doing so affirms the male athlete’s gender identity.

Australia’s 2019 “Guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport” also suggest that sporting organizations limit the personal information and documents requested from team applicants in order to avoid discovery of those who identify as transgender or gender diverse. Staff, players and volunteers are expected to receive “education and training” on gender diversity.

Featured image: Hannah Mouncey (Credit: 60 Minutes)

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Read more on this story Guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport (2019)

Australian Human Rights Commission

Introduction These Guidelines have been developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission), in partnership with Sport Australia and the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS), to provide guidance to sporting organisations on promoting the inclusion and participation of transgender and gender diverse people in sport.