Just two weeks after World Athletics banned transgender women from competing in track and field, another organization has pulled the plug on trans women competing in swim meets with other women.  

Swim England updated its “Transgender and Nonbinary Competition Policy” Monday to reflect that starting on Sept. 1, only cisgender women will be able to take part on so-called “female teams,” and a new “open” category will be created for nonbinary and trans women swimmers and anyone else who wants to compete outside of the binary, cisgender-based categories. 

The organization stated, “Swim England believes that the restriction of certain competition to birth sex females to be justified and proportionate in the pursuit of fair competition,” and claims its new policy “has inclusion and fairness at its very heart,” but trans inclusion advocates criticized the move as exclusionary and disappointing. 

“It is widely recognized that fairness of competition must be protected and Swim England believes the creation of open and female categories is the best way to achieve this,” officials wrote in a statement on the group’s website. “The updated policy ensures there are entry-level competitive opportunities for transgender people to participate in the majority of our disciplines within their gender identity.”

But while those entry-level chances will provide a provision for athletes to self-ID at these low-level “unlicensed” events, such as recreational races, timings and scores posted at these events will not be applicable to Swim England rankings or eligible as records. Which is, of course, the point of competitive swimming. 

American trans man and trailblazing swimmer Schuyler Bailar called the new policy “transphobic,” noting that by setting an age limit of 12 to have transitioned or gone on puberty blockers, Swim England has effectively excluded all trans women and girls.

“This is not about preserving fairness, this is not about protecting women’s sports, it is about excluding trans people,” he said in a social media post.

“This is transphobia incarnate and it has to stop,” said Schuyler, who was the first out trans swimmer in NCAA Division I.

“While trans kids can play authentically in non-competitive environments, the policy fundamentally denies trans girls the right to compete as themselves,” said the British trans support outfit, Mermaids, in a tweet.

Swim England’s trans policy is disappointing. While trans kids can play authentically in non-competitive environments, the policy fundamentally denies trans girls the right to compete as themselves. 🧵

— Mermaids (@Mermaids_Gender) April 3, 2023

“We call on Swim England to reverse its decision to ban trans girls from competing with their peers,” the group continued, “and make sport a welcome, inclusive space for trans youth.”

We call on Swim England to reverse its decision to ban trans girls from competing with their peers, and make sport a welcome, inclusive space for trans youth.

— Mermaids (@Mermaids_Gender) April 3, 2023

The swim lane to exclusion opened last year when the International Olympic Committee dropped their policy of trans inclusion in favor of a “framework for fairness,” basically recommending individual sports to set their own rules. FINA swiftly banned trans women who have experienced male puberty, despite the IOC’s declaration that testosterone was no longer the most important factor in determining whether trans women should be eligible to compete with cis women. 

On Monday, Swim England ignored that declaration as well as a January report in Pink News that found trans women have no advantage in elite sport. 

The group declared “peer-reviewed examples confirm the general consensus that post-puberty transgender females retain a biological level of performance advantage post-transition. Whilst Swim England’s existing policy regarding the use of hormonal therapy was found to be effective at reducing performance advantage, it was insufficient to negate it completely and trans females therefore likely retain an advantage over their cisgender peers.”

Read the full statement about the updated policy by clicking here