International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons opposed to ‘blanket’ transgender bans
The International Paralympic Committee chair said he opposed the “blanket solution” of transgender participation policy.
Andrew Parsons spoke after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that prevented trans women from participating in women’s sports.
Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidential candidate SEB COE supported the move and suggested that he consider being elected next month and would consider introducing a blanket ban.
“One of the important things for us is protecting the women category, which is the top priority,” Parsons told the BBC Sport.
“But we also have to admit that there are more and more trans athletes and that they want to compete at the highest level.
“So how we put all this together is a challenge, and I think science is an answer, but I think the blanket solution is impossible because I do think the exercise is different.
“Currently, you have ‘hybrid sports’, such as equestrian sports. So I don’t believe in blanket solutions for things like this, especially because the demand for sports varies greatly.”
Both the IOC and IPC currently allow each sports to formulate their own rules regarding trans athletes.
Under Coe’s presidency, World Athletics banned trans women from participating in the women’s category of international events and strengthened rules on athlete participation in sexual development differences (DSD).
However, under the rules of world athletics, people who are legally considered women are eligible to compete in the category of their obstacles, which makes them eligible for their qualifications.
Last year in Paris, Italian runner Valentina Petrillo became the first publicly trans athlete to compete in the Paralympic Games.
“With IOC and IPC, we are different organizations with different governance models,” Parsons said.
“In the past, we have made different decisions about important past decisions and in terms of autonomy, this will continue to be the case.”
Trump also said he would travel to the U.S. by denying his visa to prevent trans women from participating in women’s competitions at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Asked about his response, Parsons said: “Of course we have three years left, but when it comes to trans people’s participation, every international federation (if) makes these decisions in terms of rules and regulations. We will work with the Organization Committee to ensure that every rule is respectable.
“It’s an operational issue when it comes to gaming and visas. We have to see the facts and measures to see how the decisions to be made.
“At present, I understand that there are a lot of opinions, many statements, but we need to work with facts. This is what every host agrees with regard to visas – guaranteeing participation of all different countries and those eligible athletes by the IOC, IPC and their respective IFS.”
