Sports minister Chris Bishop met members of Save Women's Sport Australasia. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Sports Minister Chris Bishop has met with the Save Women's Sport Australasia group, who are calling for him to review the Guiding Principles for the Inclusion of Transgender People in Community Sport.
More than 50 former New Zealand Olympians and sports representatives signed an open letter where they say principles of fairness and safety in sport have been disrespected by the Sports New Zealand (SNZ) document.
The group includes former Olympians Barbara Kendall, Lorraine Moller and Dean Kent, former Olympic Chef de Mission David Gerrard, and former Silver Ferns captain Anna Stanley.
"As a group of Olympians, former athletes, doctors and sport administrators," the letter stated, "we are concerned that these guidelines deny national sport federations the opportunity to develop inclusivity policies in line with their international federations."
"Fairness is the cornerstone of sport at all levels, something few athletes, parents, coaches or administrators would disagree with. Where sport is characterised by collision or contact, safety deserves equal status.
"While universal participation in sport carries undisputed benefits to mental and physical health, women's sport can only remain fair and safe when male advantage is excluded. Despite testosterone suppression, there is unequivocal evidence of physical advantages for trans women in sport at any level."
Bishop confirmed on Wednesday he met with the group and received the letter, saying it was a constructive meeting and interesting to hear their perspective.
"They presented me with a letter, and made their views clear on what we should be doing.
"They have a perspective that fairness and safety are being compromised in community sport at the moment," Bishop said.
"Obviously we've got the Sport New Zealand Guidelines for transgender inclusion. Their request is that the government request that SNZ update those guidelines."
Bishop said he would consider the letter before making any decisions.
'Trying to stop trans people playing sport' - Gender Minorities Aotearoa
Gender Minorities Aotearoa believed the current guidelines for community sports did not need a review, and said Save Women's Sport Australasia was an anti-trans group.
Executive director Ahi Wi-Hongi said the guidelines were not designed for competitive sports, and "for community sports, they're really good guidelines".
The issues around who could play sports and what that looked like were "human rights issues", they said.
"So anything that's sex-based discrimination is about the Human Rights Act."
In that respect, the group was more interested in what eventuated from the Law Commission's review into the Human Rights Act.
"What's happening there is really relevant to this kind of sports discussion.
"If they're going to be, you know, discriminating, and if there's going to be sex-based discrimination anywhere, including in sports, it should be based on things that are real and relevant and ideally recorded."
Wi-Hongi said it would have to be only in circumstances where it was relevant to the sport, adding it should be "relevant to the discrimination that's happening".
Save Women's Sport Australasia's proposals were not enforceable, they said. "It's not something that could actually work, and it's not something that would make things more fair.
"But, you know, we're certainly on board with making things more fair."
Wi-Hongi said Save Women's Sport Australasia was "not really about sport in any broader way".
"A lot of these groups are much more about trying to stop trans and intersex people from playing sports than [sic] they are about sport kind of overall, in a broader way."
