Gender Verification Issues in Sports: The UK Experience

Abstract

In the context of the increased attention to the rights of the LGBTQ community representatives, the problem of allowing transgender people to participate in sports competitions cannot but arise, which is the subject of discussion at the level of the IOC and international sports federations. In these circumstances, the legislator and the sports community face a difficult task to balance the idea of universal equality in the context of access to sports regardless of gender and fair competition, which is reasonably questioned in cases of admission of transgender people to women's competitions.The analysis of the UK legislation shows that the statutory regulation of these issues is carried out at various levels: the basic provisions are prescribed in the laws, while the detailed procedures for the admission of these persons to competitions are carried out in the relevant guidelines for sports federations. Content analysis reveals that attempts to implement a pragmatic approach to the question of access of persons not meeting the classic ideas of gender identity to sports competitions. This approach develops different strategies depending on the level of competition, type of sport (contact/noncontact), physiological characteristics of athletes, divided for these purposes into several categories. The UK reserves the right to allow transgender athletes to participate in national competitions, ensuring a more inclusive approach on the part of national governing bodies, and develops rules for their admission to international competitions, taking into account the existing requirements.