Nadine Dorries urges ban on trans athletes in women's sports

Nadine Dorries urges sports bosses to ban trans athletes from women’s events

• Culture Secretary said it is ‘unfair’ for females to compete with biological males
• She backed ‘open categories’ that would let trans women compete against men
• The BBC defy calls to sack Sharron Davies as Commonwealth Games presenter
• Former Olympic swimmer campaigned to ban trans athletes from women’s sport

Sport chiefs were yesterday urged by the Government to stop transgender athletes from competing against women.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries told a summit of governing bodies it was ‘inherently unfair’ for women and teenage girls to be pitted against biological males.

Meanwhile, the BBC defied pro-trans lobbyists who are demanding the sacking of Sharron Davies as a presenter of the Commonwealth Games this summer.

The former Olympic swimmer has led a high-profile campaign to get transgender athletes banned from women’s sport.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries (pictured) told a summit of governing bodies it was ‘inherently unfair’ for women and teenage girls to be pitted against biological males

Mrs Dorries told representatives from sporting industries including football, cricket and athletics that fairness must take priority over inclusivity in elite sport. But she backed the creation of new ‘open categories’ that would allow transgender women to compete against men.

The governing bodies told her they were carrying out their own scientific research into the impact of sex and gender reassignment on performance.

Mrs Dorries said after the meeting: ‘Sport is for everyone, no matter where you’ve come from in life… the Government has the utmost compassion for people born into a body they don’t recognise. But we can’t pretend that sex doesn’t have a direct impact on a person’s athletic performance.’

Miss Davies, who has worked for the BBC for more than 25 years, has recently been subjected to abuse – including death threats – from online trolls for her campaign to exclude transgender athletes from women’s sport.

Activists have called on the BBC to fire her but the corporation has given her its support. She will take up her usual role as poolside reporter in Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games, which open on July 28. Miss Davies, 59, said: ‘The trans activists are so vile that they go after you like you cannot believe if you don’t roll over and do everything they tell you to do. They were phoning my employers and charities they heard I was working for and they made my life hell. But BBC Sport have been very good.’

A week ago, Fina, the world governing body for swimming, banned anyone who went through male puberty from competing against women.

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