The UK transgender female swimmer recently competed toplessly at the Masters event, protesting a policy requiring her to compete based on her assigned sex at birth.
Seeking to highlight the flaws of transgender competitors’ all-purpose bans, Reading 67-year-old Anne Isabella Coombs chose to wear a male swimsuit while competing – revealing her breasts in the process.
For 30 years as a member of the Reading Swimming Club, Coombes transitioned during the Covid-19 pandemic five years ago. When Public Swim Meet resumes, she applied to the National Governing Body of Swim Sports – Swim England, which seeks to compete as a woman, reports Read the Chronicle.
After submitting personal information, including medical interventions, and documents on her transition, Swim England officials allowed Coomb to compete as a woman at the 2023 Master Event.
“Masters swimming is usually very comprehensive,” said the veteran swimmer. “They try to make everyone compete. I came second in that race. The first woman who came was full length before me. She broke European records. She is a great swimmer.”
However, after competing in that race, Coombs says Swim England contacted her for consultation.
By September 2023, the organization was adopted New regulations This excludes transgender and non-binary competitors attend events designated by women at birth.
Under this policy, employed to ensure the “equity” of cisgender female swimmers – athletes who assign men at birth are expected to participate in “open” events regardless of how they identify them.
After being spoken about the new regulations, Coombs asked which type of swimsuit he should wear.
She was told to wear a woman’s swimsuit.
“They confirmed that they needed to wear a female swimming outfit despite having to compete with men. “I explained to the person on the phone that they weren’t allowed to do that, and he had no answer.”
Coombs chose not to compete in any race until this year when he decided to swim topless at the Masters in Cornwall County, in protest of policy assumptions about transgender groups.
“I’m trying to show the world that this policy is not considered, and it’s meant to hit trans people,” she said.
She also defends her desire to compete as a woman, claiming:
“Through this protest, I want to make it clear that trans people are not a threat when it comes to sports,” she continued. “We’re not getting everything. If we start, I’ll be lined up first to discuss other options. Now that doesn’t matter.”
Coombs says Swim England told her that if they arrived at the competition with the intention of wearing a male swimming outfit, they would not need permission from an event judge. Still, the judge may choose to disqualify her and other swimmers in violation of Swim England’s guidance that swimsuits should be “good moral taste.”
“It is a completely subjective decision of the judge to determine whether exposing breasts is a “moral taste” or whether they need to be hidden so that “people involved in competitive swimming are properly protected,” Coombs said. “In other words, I was able to stand up to the competition and risk not being able to compete in the outfits I was planning to wear.
“No other swimmers have this concern,” she added. “These regulations also mean that Swim England treats me as a man by default.”
The UK Supreme Court held in April that transgender women “does not fall under the legal definition of women in the context of the country’s non-discrimination laws.
Since then, transgender advocates have been in protest across the UK, including two readings. Coombs spoke in one such protest in Truro, urging members of the transgender community to support their rights.
“Most trans people just want to continue their lives and be treated as a gender,” she said. “But unfortunately, given what the Supreme Court has done, we need to stand up and say, ‘I’m a trans, I exist, and you’re not going to silence me.” Existence is resistance. ”
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
