Judy Murray wants ‘bigger and stronger’ transgender athletes out of women’s sports

Judy Murray has argued that ‘bigger, stronger and faster’ transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete across women’s sports.

A trans person is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.

Murray says the swab test should be brought back to ensure that ‘those who are born male should only compete in male categories’.

Discrimination based on sex or gender reassignment is illegal – under the Equality Act 2010 – but certain sporting activities may be exempt if trans athletes are deemed to put cisgender athletes at an unfair disadvantage.

There has long been an intense debate over the inclusion of trans athletes in sport, which intensified during the Olympic Games in Pars this summer, after Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting competed in women’s boxing events.

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Murray, the mother of male tennis superstars Andy and Jamie, has now shared her own views and wants women’s sport to remain ‘fair’ and ‘safe’, while she has also insisted that she is not ‘transphobic’ in a new interview.

‘I’m all for inclusivity in sport, but we’ve always had categories for a reason: to make it fair and to keep it safe,’ Murray told The Herald.

‘And the most obvious categories are men and women. This was made very clear to me during years of being involved in coaching sport for many years.

‘You coach girls and boys differently. They’re physically different, obviously, and they are emotionally different too.

‘So, I’m more than aware that when children reach puberty, the boys begin to pull away from the girls hugely because they obviously become bigger, stronger and faster. Usually, boys are more competitive too and more robust than girls in general.’

Arguing that trans women shouldn’t be allowed to compete in women’s sports, Murray said: ‘I feel the same way about our spaces in general.

‘Yet, as soon as you speak out about this you get jumped on by some trans activists who will accuse you of being transphobic, which I’m certainly not.’

The head of World Athletics, Lord Coe, who is standing to be president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said last month that the female sport ‘category’ must be ‘sacrosanct’ and he was ‘uncomfortable’ watching the boxing in Paris.

‘It does feel to me now as though the tide is turning,’ Murray added. ‘I think it’s a challenge for any woman in the public eye to speak about this and in sport it’s usually the old guard who are speaking out about it.

‘Younger female athletes, understandably, are very cautious about this because of the social media onslaught that can come with it and how it could affect sponsorship and team funding.

‘If you’re a woman, you need to be a very strong personality now to withstand the criticism that comes with speaking out for something you believe in. It’s really sad.’

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