Conservatives Slam USA Boxing's New Transgender Policy

USA Boxing has updated its policy to allow transgender women compete in their chosen gender, sparking fierce conservative backlash from people who believe it puts women's sports at risk.

The American boxing organization included the new policy in its 2024 rule book, stipulating that male boxers who transition into women will be able to compete in the female category.

"The purpose of this policy is to provide fairness and safety for all boxers," USA Boxing said in a statement.

Those under the age of 18 are required to compete as their birth gender, but adults can choose their category as long as they meet certain criteria.

The policy stipulates that entrants must state their new gender identity as well as fully completing gender reassignment surgery. Transitioned athletes must also participate in regular hormone testing.

Specifically, boxers who transitioned into women must have a testosterone level in serum under 5 nmol/L, a unit of measurement, for 48 months prior to their first competition. Additionally, the total testosterone level in serum must be below 5 nmol/L throughout the period of eligibility.

On the other hand, boxers competing as men must show testosterone levels above 10 nmol/L for the same time period.

The policy decision arrives after the International Olympic Committee said all sport governing bodies have a responsibility to decide how athletes are at a disadvantage to others in 2021.

So far, Boxing's International Federation hasn't decided on eligibility concerning transgender boxers.

New Rule's Controversy

Not everyone is in favor of the rule, with many conservatives and some athletes blasting the decision on social media.

Jenna Ellis, a constitutional law attorney and the former senior legal adviser to Donald Trump, came out in opposition to the new policy on social media site X (formerly known as Twitter).

"USA Boxing wants to get women killed," Ellis wrote on the platform.

Others shared concerns that female athletes who were born women would suffer under the new policy, as transgender women could have biological advantages when competing with other women.

"South Park was right once again," Collin Rugg, a conservative political commentator and co-owner of Trending Politics, wrote on X. "Clown world."

Lauren Boebert, a Republican representative for Colorado, even went as far to say the new policy lets men "beat women up in a boxing ring."

"Let's call this what it is," Boebert tweeted on Sunday. "They're going to allow men to beat women up in a boxing ring. This is pathetic and disgusting."

Female competitors in the boxing realm have also come forward with their concerns about the policy shift.

"this is idk....... Not the right decision," MMA fighter Claressa Shields said in response on X to the new rule.

Others suggested this rule foregoes conventional regulations that hormone therapy would not be allowed at all for competitions.

"Hormone therapy is banned," professional boxer Mikaela Mayer wrote on X. "By default this should make trans athletes ineligible for competition. Period. Doesn't matter how you feel about the situation, fact is, it's illegal and completely disrupts the even level playing field that sport works so hard to create."

Ebanie Bridges, a bantamweight world titleholder, also said the policy has no place in the world of boxing.

"I don't care about 'political correctness,'" Bridges said on X. "It's politically incorrect to have a man fighting a woman.. and idc that's exactly what it is... this society is too soft.. this is our health and safety. The girls need to stick together or women's sport in 50 years will be filled with male born champions."

Another competitor Jayden Alexander said she was left in tears after competing with a transgender athlete in 2023.

"The simple fact of the matter is that men, signing up in a combat sport to fight women, is absolutely unacceptable," Alexander said on social media. "The experience was horrible and scary[...]I was absolutely in fight or flight mode."

"We don't deserve to self-exclude from competitions to avoid fighting men. We deserve for there to be rules and regulations put into place that keep us safe and that protect us from these situations happening in the first place."

The battle between transgender athletes and women's sports has turned into a debate of what feminism entails in the 2024 modern world, and it has outspoken critics even within the LGBTQ+ space.

"Allowing transgender women to compete may seem like a small thing, but it is hugely consequently, and ultimately it is anti-women, and anti-feminist," Sky Gilbert, an academic at the University of Guelph in Canada who also works as a drag performer, told Newsweek. "Women struggled for years in order to make a place in sports, and to make a place in society as a whole."

The World Athletics Council, which governs Olympic track competitions, previously banned men who went through puberty from competing in the female category.

"The fact is that transgender women were born biologically male, and this means that not only their bodies, but their early experiences in life, have prepared them for sports in ways that women have not been," Gilbert said.

"Allowing transgender women in sports negates all the years of fighting for the rights of women, by denying women the opportunity to compete with each other and win, fairly, in competition with other biological women. Allowing transgender women to compete with women in sports is a tragedy for women and young girls everywhere."

Newsweek reached out to USA Boxing for comment via email.