Birth records will be key in Alberta's new ban on female trans athletes, regulations show

CBC

12 hours ago

Alberta has revealed how its new ban, prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in amateur female sports divisions, will be enforced.
The supporting regulations for the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, released this week, signal a major shift in how gender in sport will be governed in Alberta when the legislation comes into force this September.
The regulations detail how an athlete's gender will be proven, documented and potentially challenged. It also establishes a formal complaints process that would allow Albertans to question who has the right to compete as a female.
Under the new policy, schools, universities and sports clubs will be required to bar transgender women and girls from competition, and — in the event of a complaint — investigate an athlete's sex by examining their birth records.
The regulations will also require schools and sporting organizations to report any eligibility complaints — and the results of each challenge — to the government.
From baseball and boxing to ringette and gymnastics, the act deems transgender women ineligible to compete in nearly 90 sports organizations in Alberta.
The act — which applies to athletes 12 years and older — also supports the expansion and creation of "mixed gender" divisions, where numbers warrant.
Alberta's United Conservative Party government says the changes will protect the integrity of female athletic competitions by ensuring women and girls have the opportunity to compete in "biological female-only divisions."
The rules "will level the playing field," and prevent athletes who were born female from harm, Andrew Boitchenko, Minister of Tourism and Sport, said in a statement.
Critics have described the pending ban as a discriminatory attack on transgender competitors.
A question of quitting
Mark Kosak, CEO of Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, said the legislation will end up pushing athletes out of Alberta.
The ACAC is one of the close to 90 organizations impacted by the changes.
"I think they'll leave, they'll go to another conference or another province, they'll go somewhere where this restriction doesn't apply and they don't have this concern and that's unfortunate," he said.
"What I can almost predict is that a transgender athlete will feel somewhat threatened to stay in Alberta."
The province has suggested leagues create co-ed divisions, but Kosak said that would be too costly and require more facilities, coaches and officials.
Alberta sports organizations will need to create and implement eligibility policies by Sept. 1.
Leagues and educational institutions will be required to track each athlete's gender at birth.
Linda Blade, a coach and former president of Athletics Alberta, has been a vocal supporter of the new ban. She said the legislation will provide much-needed clarity to sport administrators across the province.
She hopes other jurisdictions will follow suit and adopt regulations that keep female-born athletes in a league of their own.
She said the policy is not meant as an attack on trans people, but is designed to protect women and girls and their right to compete.
"It's not anti trans, it's not anti-anything. It's pro-women."
Gender challenges
At the time of registration, an athlete or their guardian will be required to confirm in writing that the athlete qualifies under the law to play in a female league, according to the regulations.
If that claim is not believed, a formal challenge can be made in writing to the board for the sports division.
The athlete, or their guardian, will then be asked to provide the board with a birth registration document detailing their assigned sex at birth.
A birth registration document includes the person's sex at birth. Unlike a birth certificate, the sex listed on a birth registration document cannot be changed.
Under the rules, boards of those nearly impacted organizations are required to report any challenges regarding eligibility to the Minister of Tourism and Sport within three business days.
Boards must also report the results of the challenge within 30 days.
It is expected that challenges will be resolved within a 30 business-day period, the province said.
Athletes can continue to compete while an investigation is ongoing. If their birth records show they are not eligible, they will be immediately prohibited from competition.
The province says boards will be empowered to impose "reasonable sanctions" against anyone who launches a challenge in "bad faith."
Such sanctions may include written warnings or code of conduct violations, according to the province.
Debate over the inclusion of transgender athletes in female sports has been a highly charged issue in recent years.
Florence Ashley, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta, said the regulations are purposefully vague.
Ashley said the lack of details on how challenges will be managed opens the door for changes to be made quietly and "on the fly."
The new rules demonstrate a dangerous shortsightedness, Ashley said.
Ashley said the government has relied on the "politics of fear" to engineer a "moral panic" over fairness in sport and a false premise that trans women have a competitive advantage.
Transgender women will be "harmed immensely" by the policy, along with female athletes who are not trans, Ashley said. Instead of fairness in athletics, the ban will foster discrimination, harassment, fear and false challenges, Ashley said.
"Even if that's not the intent, that will be the effect."
Allison Hadley, a trans woman who competes as an amateur athlete, said the ban will be harmful to people in a broad range of demographics, including children and youth.
Hadley, born and raised in Edmonton, played rugby for nine years before competing in cross-country skiing.
She stopped competing last year due to the pending ban. She fears she will never return to the sport.
"There's a lot of extra steps for trans people in everyday life as-is, so this is just another one that's designed to get us to quit," she said.