A fencer was disqualified from a U.S. women's foil event for refusing to compete against a transgender opponent in an incident that has gone viral online.
The situation unfolded in the Cherry Blossom tournament at the University of Maryland last Sunday at College Park, Maryland, in suburban Washington.
Stephanie Turner, who competes for the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia, took a knee rather than compete against Redmond Sullivan of Iconic Fencing Club in a pool play match.
Turner, who had fought four prior bouts in the competition, was disqualified under International Fencing Federation rules barring fencers from not competing.
Sullivan finished 24th among 39 entrants in the competition.
"I knew what I had to do because USA Fencing had not been listening to women's objections" regarding its gender eligibility policy, Turner told Fox News Digital.
USA Fencing's policy on transgender athletes, created in 2023, allows athletes transitioning from male to female to compete in women's events only after one year of testosterone suppression treatment, with proof of such therapy required.
Turner also said she expected there would be personal consequences for her decision not to compete against a transgender opponent.
"It will probably, at least for a moment, destroy my life," she told Fox News. "I don't think that it's going to be easy for me from now on going to fencing tournaments. I don't think it's going to be easy for me at practice. It's very hard for me to do this."
Turner's actions prompted praise from retired tennis legend Martina Navratilova, who reposted video of the kneel-down on social media.
"This is what happens when female athletes protest!" Navratilova posted on X. "Anyone here still thinks this is fair??? I am fuming... and shame on @USAFencing, shame on you for doing this. How dare you throw women under the gender bullshit bus!!!"
The video was posted by the Independent Council on Women's Sports and showed Sullivan and Turner talking shortly after she took a knee.
"When I took the knee, I looked at the ref and I said, 'I'm sorry. I cannot do this. I am a woman and this is a man and this is a women's tournament and I will not fence this individual,'" Turner told Fox News.
"Redmond didn't hear me, and he comes up to me, and he thinks that I may be hurt, or he doesn't understand what's happening. He asks, 'Are you OK?' And I said, 'I'm sorry. I have much love and respect for you, but I will not fence you.'"
In a statement to Fox News, USA Fencing said its non-binary athlete policy "was designed to expand access to the sport of fencing and create inclusive, safe spaces.
"We respect the viewpoints on all sides and encourage our members to continue sharing them with us as the matter evolves. It's important for the fencing community to engage in this dialogue," it said.
"But we expect this conversation to be conducted respectfully, whether at our tournaments or in online spaces. The way to progress is by respectful discussion based in evidence."
USA Fencing told Newsweek that Turner's disqualification was not "related to any personal statement" but "the direct result of her decision to decline to fence an eligible opponent," in violation of federation rules that mandate the disqualification.
"We remain committed to inclusivity within our sport while also upholding every requirement dictated by our governing body," it said, adding that there was an "evolving" conversation on transgender participation in sport.
"USA Fencing will always err on the side of inclusion," it said. "We're committed to amending the policy as more relevant evidence-based research emerges or as policy changes take effect in the wider Olympic and Paralympic movement."
© 2025 AFP
54 Comments
happyhere
Wrong. USA Fencing should always err on the side of fairness.
A man fencing a woman in a woman's tournament is not fair.
Little joey
No opinion whether it's fair (maybe it's more about technique than power) but as a sporter you should be hungry and willing to overcome any short comings to prevail in my opinion. For me her attitude is not that one of a sportsman, but of a fragile little girl.
carpslidy
Transgender people shouldn't play in women's tournament
Be a man, women, whatever but sorry it's cheating to play in women's sports.
How delusion must you be not to accept this
Antiquesaving
So transferred last year from The men's team near last to the women's team moves up fast and finished 1st out of six here.
Amazing how fast he rises,
Mr Kipling
Redmond Sullivan was not a "freak", he was a man, with penis, testicles and all that goes with being male. He may have grown his hair, took hormones and dresses as a female. But still a man. That's fine, he is welcome to do whatever he wants but has no right to take part in women's sport.
bass4funk
This one is a no brainer!
virusrex
It is the same problem, actual sport scientists work towards fair rules, not overly simplistic ones that eliminate perfectly valid competitors without any unfair advantage based on things like chromosomes, but when they try to make a point about how fair rules must be complicated because gender is a complicated matter the intolerants make these fair rules impossible and push for the unfair but simple ones to be implemented, even when they are (again) discarded when it is proved that fair participants are being discriminated again.
This repeats over and over again, simplistic and unfair rules coming and going in circles because the intolerants never accept the need to take several steps forward and adopt something actually supported by science.
Jay
Imagine training your WHOLE LIFE, making sacrifices, and pushing your body to the limit, only to be told that you have to compete against a biological male because some activists said so.
And anyone defending this, ask yourself: would you be okay with it if it were your daughter getting robbed of her opportunities?
Negative Nancy
Its only a matter of time before this kind of thing will be consigned to the vaults of embarrasing episodes in human history. The majority were not listened to in favor of a vocal minority who we tried to facilitate with compassion and understanding but who continued to push the limits.
We're at the stage where experts in sport and science are speaking out to defend the obvious.
Bravo to Stephanie Turner. A real hero.
virusrex
Which is the same as doing the same and being told you can't compete because are a male since some activist says so, even when it can be demonstrated scientifically you have no unfair advantage.
That is where actual scientifically based rules come into play, but intolerant people will never accept them if they have to allow anyone they want to discriminate against, even if only because the woman is not pretty enough in their eyes.
Either you follow the science (even if you don't agree) or you end up with unfair rules.
Garthgoyle
Imagine having fought for women's rights all this time, just to have those same rights destroyed for the benefit of catering to the mental illness and deillusion of a few individuals.
I hope more women stand their ground for what is right. And by women I mean women; not mentally ill male cheaters. Enough if enough.
Jay
Your argument is a strawman. This is about ensuring fair competition. Biological differences between men and women matter - unfortunately for you, NO amount of transitioning changes that. Allowing someone with male physical advantages to compete as a woman is unfair and undermines women’s sports. Again, this about maintaining fairness and protecting the integrity of competition.
Understand? Good.
Garthgoyle
Yes. Following science, logic and the experience of living in this planet among other humans, anyone knows that males are physically stronger and faster than females. There's no going around it just because your want to make a minority happy. It is a fact.
virusrex
No it is not, nothing in my comment modifies your argument, so it is impossible for it to be a strawman, you apparently simply don't know what this fallacy means.
Which requires complicated rules that intolerant people have made clear they will not accept, meaning that only "basic" but wrong rules are in place for a while until they can be proved unfair.
When a transgender person have less variation than what is found between members of the gender this is easily disproved. So you are wrong here. Also differences do not necessarily means advantages, and advantages do not necessarily mean unfairness, this is again trying to impose wrong rules based mostly on ignoring the problem, which will then be retracted when they can be proved unfair, you are just trying to perpetuate the same cycle of unfair rules.
It can, not always the case, and to correct this the only valid way is to properly design science based rules, not sweeping and simple things that can be rescinded later as unfair.
Science can prove what differences are or not acceptable, unfortunately intolerant people think it is more valuable to discriminate against those they despise, and never understand how invalid this is.
virusrex
Science is what humanity have found to correct the mistakes of assuming things because of "experience of living in this planet among other humans"
Can be, not always the case, also that "male" is not something that can determined by chromosomes of physical appearance, which is why it requires a scientific approach. If you can't find any respected institution of science that says gender is decided exclusively by biology that is also a fact.
Not to count that stature, being left handed, etc. are also things that bring advantages that are accepted even if important, so advantages are not the same as unfairness.
Jay
It is, unfortunately for you. Your argument falls apart on MULTIPLE fronts. First, claiming transgender people have less variation than those of their biological sex ignores the significant, well-documented physiological differences between men and women, such as muscle mass, bone density, and cardiovascular capacity, which give men inherent advantages in sports.
Second, differences DO lead to advantages - whether it’s height, strength, or endurance - and those advantages are unfair when one group has them and the other doesn’t. Allowing biologically male athletes to compete in women’s sports creates an UNEVEN playing field, undermining fairness and the integrity of women’s sports.
Simply put, your argument DISREGARDS science and the very PURPOSE of competitive sports.
owzer
(loudest and most annoying)
I'veSeenFootage
Why is this even news?
So she's not even that good at fencing.
Why. Is. This. Even. News.
virusrex
It was easy to demonstrate it was not, so much that you could not even argue how this is the case.
That would be your misrepresentation of the arguments, modifying them so you can argue against the false argument, so you are making strawmans.
You can read again my comment, it is still there.
When a transgender person have less variation than what is found between members of the gender this is easily disproved
This means this can be true in some cases, not in all cases or in general as you tried to misrepresent. This is enough to refute the argument that transgender people will always have advantages, much more that they will always have unfair advantages.
Again, not always, differences can also lead to disadvantages, even if your argument depends completely in this never happening.
That is still false when there are "biological male" participants that don't have differences, not have advantages, and not have unfair advantages (all three different things) even when they are so according to the intolerant definition of what male and female must be.
So all your arguments depended on either not understanding something or just claiming false things that can be demonstrated as such.
Antiquesaving
Actually it hasn't been proven there isn't an advantage. On the contrary science (something you claim to follow) has clearly proven there are advantages but the vocal minority will tell so hard that the facts are ignored for feelings.
The vocal minority will say testosterone isn't a problem science says so, OK so what about the lung capacity, heart, blood volume, etc...? Oh that is when that vocal minority goes on the attack on social media to silence anyone even trying to point this out!
These attacks will even include physical assault he men dressed as women (see Riley Gaines) because letting people actually say something factual will destroy the whole transgender myth.
Remember most of the so-called experts are psychologist a pseudoscience that has nothing actually scientific, no outside regulatory body, no government oversight and a very very poor track record with most "facts" being actually Theories with a failure rate near 100%.
Jalapeno
Make it democratic. Just ask the female athletes in the sport what they would prefer. Majority wins. Done.
virusrex
What does that mean? you believe every single transgender person has been scientifically evaluated and determined to have an advantage? you would need a source to prove that because it is impossible to believe.
That some people will have an advantage is irrelevant, as long as one person can demonstrate lack of advantages that is enough to make the rule unfair, that is the argument that has brought down these kind of simplistic reasoning over and over again, leaving a vacuum that is also unfair but that instead of being filled with actually scientific knowledge based rules it end up being subjected to retrograde and simplisticl rules again that are demonstrated unfair, rescinded and leaving another vacumm, ad infinitum.
If science can prove that testosterno do not give an advantage to some people you are then the vocal minority that says science is wrong without any evidence, just your personal prejudice.
You mean the fact that gender is not purely biological? that is the myth that has been disproved again and again.
"Most"? how many? First psichology is a well characterized science even if taking into account that not all things are easily generlized, Second, if the other sciences say the same thing it is irrelevant what one single field that you don't like is saying. Is like pretending that the Sun is not the center of our planetary system just because astrology (an actual pseudoscience) also says it is. And third, pretending that science is wrong but you are right is the definition of being antiscientific. Present any respected institution of science that says gender is purely biological and determined without fail with simple tests, that every single transgender person has advantages or that every advantage is automatically unfair, else you have no argument, just personal beliefs.
Antiquesaving
So no advantage is claimed.
What is a competitor was using a foil just over 4 cm longer than all other competitors, would that be acceptable?
Yes I know someone here will pull out the common trope of "some women are physically bigger, stronger etc..." trying to use the exception as if that is the standard.
Well we don't go be the exception we go by the average and despite the attempts by some to ignore facts the average man is bigger, stronger, taller, longer legs, longer arms, larger lung capacity, etc....
And calling themselves a woman does not shrink lung capacity, it doesn't lower their height, shorten their le
gs or arms.
Antiquesaving
Rules are set based on average, not exceptions.
And if you were actually in science and went by facts this would be fairly clear to you.
Average male
So now tell us no advantage?
And again don't start with " there are born females that are bigger taller than average, blah blah blah.
Rules and standards go by average not exceptions.
zulander
thats the point- she is a sportswoman, or girl if you like.
zulander
The being male part is not affected by what anyone says. Its just a fact. Unless you are a mental gymnast.
Antiquesaving
You claim to go by science and facts but then you dismiss all facts and science on the subject for feelings.
Do you claim that the average male isn't bigger, taller, stronger, etc... than the average female?
virusrex
Sorry but no, appeal to your authority to decide this are not valid, specially from an anonymous account. Pretending your personal opinion is a fact is obviously invalid as well.
Says the person that states as facts things that zero institutions of medical science support.
I keep telling you, as long as any participant can be demonstrated to not have an advantage that is enough to make the rule unfair and for it to justifiably be taken down, the same as has happened many times.
Also I tell you that "man" is not something that is decided biologically or with any simple test so plenty of people with male gender do not conform to these averages.
Why not? because it destroys your argument and you still can't find any counter argument? are you going to ask people not to prove you wrong in other ways as well?
Or being female, in the same way anything you simply says is not relevant because gender is not absolutely determined by biology.
Says the person that states as fact things that zero institutions of medical science support.
Still zero that says gender is purely biological, still zero that says it can be determined by a test, still zero that says it will absolutely bring advantages, still zero that says those advantages are always unfair.
Yet you still think you are on the side of science, even without any scientific support.
Antiquesaving
So if what you are trying to push, then why even have categories?
My
Eliminate men's and women's, eliminate weight in boxing, wrestling, etc ..
Raw Beer
So he's not even that talented but finished 1st against women. So yeah, being transgender doesn't provide any advantages.... riiiiight.....
... by disqualifying....
virusrex
Still trying to misrepresent the argument? people have differences, but not all are explained by gender, (specially by the retrograde and wrong concept of gender as exclusively biological) not all differences are advantages, and not all advantages are considered unfair. Why there is no category for left handed people? or those over a certain height? thinking about it can help you understand correctly the situation.
The problem is that you try to push a personal definition of gender, a personal definition of advantage and a personal definition of unfair in order to justify a simplistic and generalizing rule that can be demonstrated as unfair very easily by scientific arguments. The actual experts on sports science instead work towards specific, complicated but fair rules that enforce competitivity to a degree the sport considers adequate.
Sullivan finished 24th among 39 entrants in the competition.
Again, the real argument is that being transgender do not automatically means advantages, specially unfair advantages. So it can't be the sole and only parameter to decide what is fair competition.
You are the one saying people should be disqualified by being transgender (including by flawed definitions), even those that do not have advantages, much less unfair.
NOMINATION
Even Gavin Newsom said it was unfair and he is a top 5 favorite human for the left.
owzer
Women should not be compelled to compete against people who are not women.
kohakuebisu
I don't know enough to comment on this, but have high expectations that Navratilova will know what she is talking about.
As probably the world's best known lesbian, she will also know a lot about being on the receiving end of prejudice. I'm pretty sure she even took part in one of those staged "battle of the sexes" tennis matches, so will know about publically competing against a man. To be honest, any female player with a male coach blasting first serves past them will know the difference between male and female power at elite level.
virusrex
Are you coming from the past? because Newsom's popularity have been dropping at huge speeds after he began a weird campaign to legitimize intolerance and abuse of power distancing him more and more from everything he worked for in the past. He is working very diligently to renounce things from the "left" (actually the center) of the political spectrum.
Tell that to the people that insist on unscientific definitions of gender that mud the field so actually fair rules can't be put in place so only unfair situations remain.
Sanjinosebleed
The only way to solve this stupid issue is to give the trans gender peeps their own division! They definitely shouldn’t be competing in the natural female and male divisions!
Jind
It's not fair to WOMEN.
Only women born as women should compete against each other.
No Men allowed in WOMEN's sports.
Men born as Men should compete in Men's sports.
carpslidy
If you love sports just keep playing in the male category I'm pretty sure no man would have a problem with that
Negative Nancy
Its one of those scenarios in which you begin to ask youself "how did we even get in this situation in the first place?"
virusrex
The problem then would be intolerant people trying to get people into the transgender division based only on their personal misunderstanding of what gender is. "Natural" is just one of the excuses they use, not the only one, and once conceding it, more and more people will become different from natural to their eyes.
Even those that have male levels of testosterone? or male chromosomes but are considered women for all purposes from birth?
Again, the problem are simplistic parameters trying to define something much more complicated and getting it wrong, affecting fairness. Suggesting even simpler parameters only makes things worse.
So you suggest that only a male category should be available for competition right? if a person (no matter what gender) love sports then this person should not have a problem with that, right?
KyotoToday
South Park nailed this issue (as usual) with the "Strong Woman Competition". I won't add a link, but a 3min clip is on youtube.
virusrex
This is well known and described, lame and invalid rules that are demonstrated to discriminate against people without any unfair advantage, the rules are of course revoked and it becomes a free for all while the experts try to get actually correct rules that by necessity should be quite detailed and complicated, but while they are trying to do that intolerant, prejudiced people screaming how simple things (chromosomes, levels of one hormone, physical aspect) are enough and the situation gets back to the beginning with lame and invalid rules that discriminate against people without advantages.
Rinse and repeat.
carpslidy
virusrex
But your argument was that people that love sports should not care about which category they compete, are you now saying that it is valid for people to consider this important? that completely destroys your overly simplistic argument.
carpslidy
No, what I said was trans people who love sports should still be allowed to compete but in the male categories.
I said nothing about scrapping categories or that everyone should compete in the same category.
Antiquesaving
Not personal misunderstanding but the scientific and medical definition of gender up until recently when mental gymnastics and feelings suddenly over took science and facts
virusrex
Not at all, what you said what this:
If you love sports just keep playing in the male category I'm pretty sure no man would have a problem with that
This means that either you accept that "loving sports" is no excuse and will not make people stop caring about their categories or that it should apply to everybody.
You made an argument that you later refuted yourself. Pretending this should only apply to the people you want to exclude only makes it obvious is an invalid argument and you justify using double standards so you can exclude some people you don't care about and not those that you do.
Antiquesaving
Actually the only double standards are people that claim to follow science then claim that a man doesn't have a physical advantage over a woman despite the facts showing the average man is bigger, taller, stronger, has a bigger heart, bigger lungs, higher hemoglobin, etc ...
So unless you are ready to say that the medical facts that the average man and the average elite male athlete are not bigger taller stronger etc... than the average female and female athlete then don't try claiming you follow science and facts.
Even arguably the greatest female tennis player Serena Williams openly stated she would stand a chance against male players.
Then we have the unmistakable fact that bottom of the pack males change to calling themselves women and suddenly they are top ranked in most if not all sports this happens.
I guess you think it is just a coincidence a poor male swimmer suddenly is the top female swimmer, 2 low ranked male track suddenly win every race and break every female record after changing to the women's category, etc... same in volleyball, soccer, and the list goes on.
These men couldn't even make top 50 some top 200 as men but as women they are suddenly elite level.
But let's pretend it has nothing to to with physical advantages of being a biological male.
Antiquesaving
Don't bother, the only way supporters of trans women in women's sports can justify their beliefs is to ignore facts, ignore science and try twisting what others say and twisting the facts to the point of mental gymnastics that only they seem to be able to understand.
Peter14
Perhaps it may be time to have sports for three genders now. Male, Female and Transgender sports where you compete against others of the same sex.
There would be many less opponents in the Transgender category, but at least it can be done without discrimination. The fact is around the world there are likely millions of transgender people. They exist in our society and must be catered to. They pay their bills, pay taxes, they vote and are expected to follow the law like all others. Time we gained a little understanding rather than hate, or choosing to not recognize them.
If transgenders wish to compete in sports, let them compete against other transgenders. Recognize them and allow them to have their own place in sports.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Brosphere experts will now tell us that high testosterone people have an advantage in fencing... despite Sullivan finishing 24th.
Negative Nancy
Sport, by definition, means following some rules. Otherwise its just exercise. We wouldn't accept heavyweight boxers being allowed to pummel lightweight boxers into oblivion. We don't usually accept certain players gaining advantages by using superior equipment. We don't accept athlethes with pharmaceutical advantages. We don't allow men to play women's sport.
Oh, but if they think they're a woman its ok? If they dress like a woman, its ok? If they undergo surgery or take drugs to make them feel more feminine, its ok? No, its not.
In western society we have learned not to discriminate against people. We give people the benefit of the doubt and we show tolerance to people who are different. But cheats? Nah.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The rules say Sullivan can compete in the women's competition.
TaiwanIsNotChina
It's also true that XY people who did puberty blockers early enough will not be physically stronger and faster than XX people. It is a fact.