US Fencing will amend its LGBTQ-friendly host site and national anthem policy
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USA Fencing’s board of directors voted to amend current policy Prioritized state It has LGBTQ-friendly laws on host sites for competition and policies that prevent the performance of the national anthem at several events.
The decision will be later A few months of criticism To punish a female fencer for refusing to fence trans opponents, including scrutiny from Congressional members at a Congressional hearing in early May.
The changes came into effect at the meeting on Saturday.
According to the official announcement, U.S. Fencing “adopted a streamlined policy that applies standards prioritizing cost, safety and convenience to all national bids across all 50 states.” The new policy “ensures host cities meet strict member safety and cost-effectiveness standards.”
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) holds a map of the United States in front of a screenshot from Instagram of Damien Lehfeldt, director of the US Fencing Committee.
Meanwhile, the Board’s new national anthem policy will be implemented in the national population in the summer of 2025 and will be reviewed annually by the tournament committee.
“As the recommendation of the Tournament Committee, the Board has adopted a unified national anthem policy that governs all US fencing national events,” the announcement said, adding that the new policy “provides consistent, respectful minimum guidance to honor flags and national anthems in nine years’ tournaments.”
Returning to December, the board meeting I voted To perform the national anthem at the start of the tournament before “All NAC and National Championships”, however it opposed 8-2 with one abstention.
Previous Host Site Policy It has been announced In November 2022, she chose to host a national tournament for states that have no laws that “do harm members of the LGBTQ community” and gave them a preference for states that “have no laws that undermine women’s reproductive health.”
The policy came into effect in the 2023 season and changed its gender policy in the same year. It was released later State list That was meant to be “avoidable as much as possible” and that states that it’s out on the flat won’t allow them to host major events.
The states on the “not allowed” list were Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.
State included in the “Avoid if possible” list include Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Texas, Dakota and West Virginia.
Previous policies have become one of the organisation’s biggest criticism points after fencer Stephanie Turner ignited a global backlash against the organisation when he recorded a video of him kneeling in protest against his trans opponent while competing in Maryland in late March.
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The footage went viral amid news that Turner was disqualified from the event and dealt with a black card because he refused the fence.
The dispute was the subject of a federal hearing on May 7th. Government Efficiency Bureau (Doge) Subcommittee’s “Unfair Play: Protecting Men from Women’s Sports” saw Turner testify to US Fencing Chair Damian Lefeld.
Lehfeldt received harsh criticism from Republican lawmakers about the organization’s transgender inclusion and host site selection policy.
Chairman of the Doge Subcommittee, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is R-Ga. called on organizations for its host city policy.
“When selecting sites for fencing events across the country, the board’s policy is to avoid states that LGBTQ rights and abortion laws and policies oppose them. We use the ‘equality map’ to determine which states are blacklisted from competitors and which states we support,” Green said.
“This supports a lot of blue states and hurts a lot of red states, so it produces politically determined winners and losers, but has nothing to do with fencing.
USA Fencing also announced in April it is preparing to change its current policy to allow trans athletes to compete in the women’s category.
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“If US fencing is forced to change its current stance in accordance with watchdogs or federal law, the new policy must compete in US fencing-approved tournaments according to biological gender,” the announcement.
The proposed updated policy ensures that the female category is “open to female sex athletes only.” The male category is “open to all other athletes who otherwise qualify for competition.”
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