Nadine Dorries has said she expects sporting bodies to reserve competitive women’s sport “for people born of the female sex” after holding a meeting with a number of governing bodies.
The culture secretary, whose department also covers sport, said on Twitter that “asking women and teenage girls to compete against someone who was biologically born a male is inherently unfair”.
It is the latest intervention in the debate over transgender rights in sport and follows the decision by FINA, the international swimming federation, to ban trans athletes from elite women’s competitions.
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FINA’s decision sparked outrage from the likes of Tom Daley, the British gold-medal wining diver.
But in an article for the Mail on Sunday at the weekend, Ms Dorries urged other sporting bodies to follow FINA’s example.
The newspaper reported that Ms Dorries was to meet Sport England, which promotes the take-up of sport and physical activity across the country, as well as organisations representing football, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics this week.
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She said on Tuesday that she had just met the sporting bodies to discuss trans participation and that it was “a complex and emotionally charged issue” that had “been ducked for too long”.
“We can’t pretend that sex doesn’t have a direct impact on a person’s athletic performance,” she said.
“Today I have made my position absolutely clear: I expect sporting bodies to follow the policy that competitive women’s sport must be reserved for people born of the female sex.
“We need to do this in a way that protects and shows compassion to all athletes – including the creation of open categories.
“But fairness in competitive sport has to take priority above all else.
“Some clear direction is long overdue – not only for athletes, but also event organisers and fans. There is evidently more to do to make sport fairer for female athletes.”
Nancy Kelley, chief executive of the LBTQ+ group Stonewall, said in response to the comments that International Olympic Committee guidelines made clear that “inclusion is the starting point and that we should not presume an advantage based on someone’s trans status or intersex characteristics”.
“What we are seeing today is blanket bans being encouraged by the minister as a knee-jerk response to a tiny number of elite level trans athletes globally,” she said.
“Many of these athletes have not even been given a chance to compete.”
Daley last week told iNews that he was “furious” at FINA’s decision, adding: “You know, like most queer people, anyone that’s told they can’t compete or can’t do something they love just because of who they are, it’s not on.
“It’s something I feel really strongly about. Giving trans people the chance to share their side.”
However, former Olympic medal-winning swimmer Sharron Davies said FINA was “standing up for fair sport for females”.
The debate comes after the controversial success of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the US and New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard becoming the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Boris Johnson made his position clear in April when he said that “biological males should not be competing in female sporting events”.
