New Delhi: In the wake of US President Donald Trump’s stance on preventing transgender women from competing in the sports, a fresh incident from Maryland’s College Park has sparked another controversy on the sensitive matter.
Stephanie Turner, a female fencer, was recently disqualified from the women’s tournament following her reluctance to compete against her opponent, whom she claimed to be a transgender. As a result, the USA Fencing, the national sports governing body, took the action accordingly.
The national sports federation in its statement said that a ‘fencer is not permitted to refuse to fence another properly entered fencer for any reason’, as reported by news agency The Associated Press.
In a video which is widely circulated across social media platforms, Stephanie is seen taking a knee as an act of protest just before her competition. The match official displayed a black card to the reluctant participant and was further disqualified from the remaining part of the competition.
“There’s nothing for me, and there’s everything for him. I’m a woman. I have no other choice of where to compete.”
The brave female fencer who took a knee speaks out. 👇 pic.twitter.com/EHGWwYd1De
— Natalie Jean Beisner (@NJBeisner) April 3, 2025
According to Fox News, Stephanie was scheduled to compete against Redmond Sullivan at the Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland. Just a night before the event, Stephanie had decided to take the knee before her fight against Redmond as she had read an article about him before the competition.
“I saw that I was going to be in a pool with Redmond, and from there I said, ‘OK, let’s do it. I’m going to take the knee,” Stephanie told Fox News Digital.
“I took a knee immediately at that point. Redmond was under the impression that I was going to start fencing. So 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,” she added.
As per the Associated Press report, the USA Fencing said it enacted its current transgender and non-binary athlete policy in 2023. It couldn’t be proven that Redmond is transgender and for now it remains only to be a claim.
US female fencer Stephanie Turner was disqualified from a women’s tournament after refusing to compete against a transgender opponent. Turner’s protest highlights the ongoing debate surrounding transgender women’s participation in women’s sports in the country. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
