April Hutchinson, a medal-winning Canadian powerlifter, has been advocating against transgender athletes competing in women-only categories. (Photo Courtesy of April Hutchinson)
“This big hulking individual with a deep male voice came to stand beside me. I was just in shock,” Ms. Bayntun told The Epoch Times. She said she thought at the time, “The person who beat me is either on steroids, or they’re not a woman.”
“It was extremely disheartening,” she said.
Ms. Bayntun, 5 feet 2 inches tall, has competed in three competitions in the last 10 months, but she said she deliberately placed herself in a different competition category because she doesn’t want to compete against a transgender athlete who was born male and is smashing women’s records.
“It’s unfair. It’s not an equal competition. It’s nearly impossible to win powerlifting against someone born a male,” she said.
She described rules where every piece of equipment used by powerlifting athletes must be checked and approved.
“They do all this stuff to level the playing field,” Ms. Bayntun said. “But someone who was born a man can come in and be able to compete with women.”
She had tried writing to the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU), the sport’s governing body in Canada, and sent The Epoch Times a copy of her letter.
“What about fair play for women? Surely we can agree that someone who has lived through male puberty could not be competing fairly against women. Since when does someone’s gender identity override biology in fair sport,” she wrote.
Ms. Bayntun provided a screenshot of the response from CPU President Shane Martin, stating that the organization held a special meeting with all provincial presidents and a “majority vote” decided to “continue with our current inclusion model.”
The CPU didn’t return requests for comment by press time.
‘I Don’t Want to Compete Against Men’
Weightlifter Julianne, who requested her last name not be published because she’s been called “transphobic” for her views, said she competed against the same transgender individual in 2021 and ended up quitting competition after losing.
“What’s the point of competing if it’s not fair to play,” Julianne told The Epoch Times. The 4-foot-11 athlete said she didn’t find out her over-6-foot-tall competitor was a biological male until after a competition, and when she started asking questions, she encountered backlash.
“I asked, ‘Is it fair? Is it against the rules?’ I was told not to be a poor sport.”
Julianne, 39, said people told her she should “try harder” or lose weight and compete in another weight class. At that point she had been competing for four years and was “ostracized” by people she thought were her friends, she said.
“Women’s sports were created to keep women on a level playing field,” she said. “I didn’t understand how this was allowed to happen. … I don’t want to compete against men.”
Julianne said she quit competing after a mental breakdown. “It wasn’t fair anymore. I’d busted my butt. Gave up every take-out meal. Didn’t drink. Spent hours at the gym, and someone not born a female got a free pass,” she said. “I felt cheated and robbed.”
She said she’s considering returning to competition in a different weight class from the one the transgender athlete is in, now that the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) is moving to a policy regarding trans athletes that she hopes will make competition more fair.
New Policy
On Aug. 23, following weightlifting records set by a transgender person competing against women, the IPF issued a statement outlining mandatory requirements for athletes who identify as transgender.
The new policy will require transgender athletes to self-declare as such before competing, disallow them from claiming a gender identity different from the one consistently used, and not permit athletes who claim a gender-fluid identity.
For those who transition from male to female, the policy specifies a number of conditions they must meet to compete in the female category. Their declaration can’t be changed for at least four years. They must have a valid passport issued by their country indicating a female gender. They must meet certain maximum testosterone level requirements and provide medical records before and during competition.
The policy change follows criticism after transgender powerlifter Anne Andres set Canadian national and unofficial world records on Aug. 13 in Brandon, Manitoba, at the CPU 2023 Western Canadian Championship. The transgender athlete competed in the 40-to-50 age group, lifting over 450 pounds more than the second-place female.
Transgender athletes—particularly biological males identifying as transgender and competing against biological females—have dominated headlines in recent months, with some sports announcing a ban on such individuals competing in female categories.
The new IPF policy says “no lifter should have an unfair and disproportionate advantage over another athlete.”
“Difference in testosterone level between male and female has a significant effect on the biological makeup of an athlete—such as muscle mass, type of muscle fibres and muscle distribution,” it said, and as powerlifting is a strength sport, the differences between biological males and females “are directly related to performance.”
Going back 50 years, “male records of similar body weight categories are always significantly higher than female records,” the IPF states.
‘Step in the Right Direction’
April Hutchinson, a record-breaking Canadian powerlifter, said she welcomes the IPF’s new policy on trans athletes, adding that while it’s not perfect, it’s a “step in the right direction.”
Ms. Hutchinson wrote a commentary on Aug. 21 for the UK Daily Mail on the issue after the transgender athlete broke records at the CPU 2023 competition in Brandon.
“The top 20 men’s competitors lift over 2,000 lbs. If Andres competed against them, Andres wouldn’t even rank in the top 6,000. But Andres’ deadlift was the second highest in women’s weightlifting history,” wrote Ms. Hutchinson.
She said it constituted “cheating” for transgender individuals to compete against biological women.
Anne Andres told The Epoch Times last month that those competitors “[I] shared the platform with either don’t think I have an advantage, or they want me there in spite of it.”
“If there is an advantage, we don’t have anywhere near enough science [on this],” the transgender athlete said. “However, I choose to put myself and endure this malarkey because I respect other women in sport, so if I am indeed ‘cheating’ I need permission first.”
Ms. Hutchinson said in an interview that three female powerlifters, half the athletes in the category, dropped out. She alleges athletes have written to the CPU and been “ignored.” She said one fellow competitor quit and another dropped weight to enter another category.
“It’s so important to keep women’s and girls’ sports fair and safe,” she said, adding that those who support men competing with women are “part of the problem. And they should be ashamed. … They’re literally helping erase women’s sports.”
Advocacy
Ms. Hutchinson told The Epoch Times her advocacy to protect women’s sports from biological males competing in women’s categories has taken a toll.
“My mental health has definitely declined,” she said. “I go to the gym and eat well and try to sleep, but honestly it’s been very, very stressful. It’s taken a toll on my powerlifting. I’ve seen my numbers go down, I’m not doing as well in competitions.”
Ms. Hutchinson alleges her federation, the CPU, has threatened to suspend her from Team Canada because of her advocacy. She said she’s been asked more recently to take down posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, and encountered “bullying” from the CPU.
The CPU didn’t return requests for comment.
“I didn’t create the posts. I’m sharing public knowledge, sharing articles, reposting tweets,” said Ms. Hutchinson. She plans to keep fighting for women-only sports.
“I was the first Canadian athlete to speak up,” she said. “Thankfully more women have started to speak out. I started speaking out over a year ago. My federation didn’t listen to me at that time. It really wasn’t until I hired a lawyer that they started listening to me.”