Transgender cyclist Emily Bridges has hit out at British Cycling over the new category. (Getty) New cycling rules that set out a separate category for transgender and non-binary athletes have been condemned by trans cyclist Emily Bridges as a "violent act" that has effectively "banned us from racing".
One of the highest profile transgender athletes in the UK, Bridges said the new "Open" category announced by British Cycling on Friday was a bid to make the organisation look better.
The new ruling, which will come into effect by the end of the year, will see "transgender women, transgender men, non-binary individuals and those whose sex was assigned male at birth" be eligible for the ‘Open’ category. "The ‘Female’ category will remain in place for those whose sex was assigned female at birth and transgender men who are yet to begin hormone therapy," British Cycling said.
However, Bridges said that while a "nuanced policy discussion" and further research was needed, the current discussions were "inherently political" and had left her unsure whether she wanted to race her bike again.
"British Cycling is a failed organisation, the racing scene is dying under your watch and all you do is take money from petrochemical companies and engage in culture wars. You don’t care about making sport more diverse, you want to make yourself look better and you’re even failing at that. Cycling is still one of the whitest, straightest sports out there, and you couldn’t care less," she wrote on her Instagram page. The organisation’s policy […]
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