Girls’s fencer Stephanie Turner might be stepping again from fencing “for a while” after she was positioned on a 12-month probation by USA Fencing for refusing to compete towards a transgender athlete final month, a report mentioned.
Stephanie Turner, 31, was disqualified from USA Fencing’s Cherry Blossom Open when she took a knee relatively than fence Redmond Sullivan, a 20-year-old who was born biologically male.
The drama that adopted the choice, which made nationwide headlines, “has disrupted my training, it has disrupted my interactions when I go out in public, and it will certainly disrupt my competition because I won’t be competing in the United States any time soon,” she informed Fox Information.
USA Fencing slapped her on a 12-month probation — which doesn’t bar her from competing — however Turner mentioned she’ll be “taking a break from fencing for a while in the US circuit” anyway.
Throughout her time away from the piste, Turner mentioned she is going to be part of the motion to ban trans athletes from ladies’s sports activities.
“I will remain in the public eye for as long as it takes to resolve this,” she informed the outlet.
Since taking a knee in protest, Turner mentioned she will get “dirty” appears from a few of her buddies, together with some her are a part of the LGBTQ group however didn’t know the way she felt about trans athletes in ladies’s sports activities, Fox reported.
“I’m aware of some of the negative comments that my friends have had, I’m mindful to give them enough space, but I’m sure that, in the future, considering I believe this policy and this ideology to be unsustainable, they’ll come around eventually,” Turner mentioned.
Turner has been invited to look earlier than the Home Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Authorities Effectivity to testify concerning the incident alongside USA Fencing board chair Damien Lehfeldt. The listening to is scheduled for Might 7.
Trump’s Division of Training is investigating whether or not USA Fencing violated Title IX by refusing to adjust to an govt order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” The Maryland event was not an NCAA- or school-sanctioned occasion.
USA Fencing adopted its present trans-inclusion coverage in 2023.
“USA Fencing will respond and cooperate to any inquiry as required by law,” the group mentioned in a press release responding to the investigation.
Turner, who competes out of the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia and has been fencing for greater than a decade, has mentioned she normally gained’t join occasions the place she is aware of there’s an opportunity of going up towards a transgender opponent – however did so this time as a type of protest. Turner has competed towards male opponents earlier than, together with every week earlier than her protest, and has even crushed male rivals, in keeping with the Every day Mail.
“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,’” Turner mentioned earlier this month, notably not utilizing her opponent’s most well-liked pronouns.
USA Fencing has mentioned that Turner was disqualified for refusing to compete relatively than her protest.
