Scaremongering About ‘Trans Women in Sports’ Is as Lucrative as Ever

Transphobes are cashing in on the anti-trans hysteria that has taken over our country. It sets a very dangerous precedent that threatens the safety of all trans women.

If you are one of those people that are like me, trying to stay away from the 24-hour news cycle and the fall of our democracy being reported in real time, I would not blame you if you have not heard the latest sensationalist piece of news about a fencer refusing to fence a trans woman.

The fencer’s name is Stephanie Turner and she recently in Maryland in a competition. She claims it was unfair and goes against her principles, so she had to speak out about it. For those who are unaware, USA Fencing requires that any trans woman be on gender-suppressing hormones for at least a full year, which is in line with a lot of other professional sports organizations. This is strictly enforced, and any fencer competing knows that this is the policy.

This enrages me on so many levels.

The first being the refusal of the fencer to fence a trans woman is absolutely infuriating. When I heard about this story in the news, my first thoughts were that this is a blatant attempt to cash in on the baseless and senseless trans hysteria sweeping the nation. She literally asked a friend to record her pre-planned refusal, for what purposes if not to cash in? If you are doing it on your own principles, then do it when there are no cameras or attention.

But of course she absolutely did not do that. She wanted to make a spectacle of it, and now she is no doubt getting paid undisclosed sums of money making the rounds to appear on various conservative / right-wing media outlets parroting the transphobic views of the right-wing media. She even was awarded recently with a $5,000 prize for refusing to fence her for, get this… the .

The XX-XY Athletic organization, simply put, is a transphobic organization. (Just look at its name.) This is from the aforesaid article and listed on their website:

We are here to protect women’s sports and spaces. Women deserve the opportunities that sports and single sex spaces provide. Sex matters. It is the single biggest determinant of athletic performance. It is unfair and dangerous to allow males (XY) to compete in girls’ and women’s (XX) sports.

For women to compete safely and fairly, women’s sports need to remain female. We’ll be here defending truth. And women and girls. Until that happens.

Getting back to wholesome good old Stephanie with her “principles.” So I have read interviews that she “destroyed” her career in fencing to publicly criticize the trans-inclusive policy of USA Fencing. She has even mentioned that she has trans friends in fencing clubs and does not want them to be mad at her for doing this and does not want to lose them as friends. I think I can speak for any trans person and for your trans fencing friends when I say, “How can we NOT be mad at you. You can kick rocks and get the F out of our lives, you transphobic, money-grubbing, attention-seeking bigot.”

A few years ago, Stephanie Turner did something similar and refused to even register for a tournament because she knew of a trans woman competing. But for this 2025 tournament, she had registered before the trans woman registered and only found out about her opponent the night before.

She cites the fact that she devotes a lot of time and money to the sport of fencing; of that, I have no doubt. But again, if it was really about morals or her principles, why even show up for the match? Why not simply inform the officials beforehand of her refusal to compete? Just take the disqualification ahead of time in keeping with those “principles.” Why exploit someone like this if not for some financial gain?

The second infuriating thing that Stephanie Turner has so carelessly done is without a doubt absolutely ruined this other woman’s life with zero remorse. The opponent has yet to speak out, and rightfully; if it were me, I would want my life to remain private to the extent possible. I mean she was just trying to compete like she always has done. Instead now you have destroyed this woman’s career and life, reducing her to a publicity stunt for your greed and financial gain.

The third ever-escalating infuriating thing is that Turner’s choice continues to inspire copycats. I mean why wouldn’t they seeing all the money and attention you are getting? I am hearing about a disc golfer now refusing to compete against trans women. When will it stop?

The simple fact remains that, whoever you are, there will always be someone (cis or trans) who’s bigger and stronger than you and has a competitive advantage. It is called genetics. You do not see shorter basketball players complaining that it is unfair that they have to compete against seven-foot-tall players, do you?

It was never about the competition of it all. It was your transphobic bigoted views that you can now cash in on, backed by an equally corrupt bigoted person and administration in the White House.

The last and most infuriating thing about all this is that it is all one big distraction for the conservative Right / Republicans. Fox News and the right-wing outlets are blasting any and every instance of women refusing to compete against trans women because it distracts their sheep of an audience from broadcasting the fact that our stock market is tanking and the price of everything is about to go up astronomically because of these disastrous tariffs. It really is the perfect smokescreen. People are eating this up while Rome burns. Meanwhile, Trump golfs, wasting millions of taxpayer money.

Back to the fencing issue at hand: I inevitably will encounter “But Amber, men do have an advantage…YOU’RE NO EXPERT!” Well, the Academy of Fencing Masters are experts, and here’s what they had to say before all this transphobia hysteria:

The most fascinating thing perhaps in the power of fencing is that, unlike many other sports, fencing is truly equal parts mental and physical acuity. That means that a man who has a height and weight advantage on a female opponent doesn’t have an advantage that he might have in swimming or boxing. Fencing as a sport puts men and women on equal footing, and we often see mixed gender bouts across age groups! In fact, smaller stature can be an advantage in fencing if used correctly against an opponent. What we see on the strip is that women are inventive, engaged, and passionate about getting that point.

— Igor Chirashnya, (2018)

So as it was never about bathrooms… as it was never about fencing…as it was never about disc golf… as it was never about volleyball…as it was never about… insert the next thing the conservative right will cry about and blame trans women for. They are exploiting us in the most nefarious way not only for financial gain and as a distraction, but their ultimate end goal is to erase us from existence.

We need to speak out against this first and foremost for trans women’s safety. But rest assured it will not stop at trans women. If we continue to let this slide, it is a slippery slope until this bigotry will unfortunately slide to the next demographic of women whom people have an implicit bias towards and they will exploit them and then cash in on and erase. Rinse and repeat. Wake up everyone before it is too late.

— Amber

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