Sport NZ to end ‘woke’ rules for transgender athletes

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters says ‘biological males have no place in women’s sports’, as the government moves to scrap guidelines for transgender athletes in competitions.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters says ‘the state has no place in people’s bedrooms – and biological males have no place in women’s sports’. Picture: AFP

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters says “biological males have no place in women’s sports”, as the government moves to scrap guidelines for transgender athletes in competitions.

Sports around the world are wrestling with how to govern transgender participation, with the US Olympic Committee and English Football Association among those to restrict trans athletes from women’s sport.

Government agency Sport NZ in 2022 developed “guiding principles for the inclusion of transgender people in community sport”.

Mr Peters on Thursday said “woke” guidelines had been scrapped. “The state has no place in people’s bedrooms – and biological males have no place in women’s sports,” he said in a statement.

“This is purely about ensuring there is safety and security for girls and women in the sports they play at every level.”

New Zealand was for years seen as a leader in allowing transgender participation in sport. Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard in 2021 became the first openly transgender woman to compete at the Olympics, entering the over-87kg women’s category.

The now-dropped guiding principles included wellbeing and safety, anti-discrimination and anti-bullying. They gave advice on providing private spaces in bathrooms and using gender-­inclusive language.

Sports organisations were not bound by the guidelines.

Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle said the guidelines were dropped at the government’s request: “The government has directed Sport NZ to stop all work on the Guiding Principles for the Inclusion of Transgender People in Community Sport and remove them from our website.

AFP