(LifeSiteNews) — The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board is now restricting male players who claim to be female from competing against women.
On November 21, the ICC Board approved new gender eligibility regulations which mandate that biological male players who have been through puberty not be permitted to play against women.
“The new policy is based on the following principles (in order of priority), protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion, and this means any Male to Female participants who have been through any form of male puberty will not be eligible to participate in the international women’s game regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken,” a statement from ICC reads.
According to ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice, the decision was based on science, having followed a 9-month consultation process led by the ICC Medical Advisory Committee chaired by Dr. Peter Harcourt.
“The changes to the gender eligibility regulations resulted from an extensive consultation process and is founded in science and aligned with the core principles developed during the review,” Allardice said.
“Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players,” he continued.
The new regulations only apply to international cricket, while rules for domestic cricket are left to each individual Member Board and could be impacted by local legislation.
ICC’s decision comes after Canada was condemned for sending a male cricket player to the female competition. 29-year-old “Danielle” McGahey, a man who claims to be female, was the first ever “transgender” cricket player to enter a women’s competition.
Predictably, McGahey blasted the recent decision to protect women’s sports, claiming that it ended his international cricket career.
However, ICC is hardly alone in restricting men from competing against women over fairness and safety concerns.
Recently, many have begun to speak out against allowing men to dominate female sports competitions, while some organizations have ruled that only biological females may compete.
In August, the International Powerlifting Union declared that male Canadian “transgender” powerlifter “Anne” Andres must be banned from competing against women after he shattered a women’s lifting record.
Also in August, British Rowing announced it will ban biological males who claim to be female from competing against females and potentially taking their awards.
Later that month, World Aquatics, the international governing body for aquatic sports, announced that it has created an “open category” for swimmers who claim to be “transgender” and do not meet the current regulations to compete against women.
Similarly, World Track and Field have banned people from participating in categories that do not align with their sex. Also, others have created special categories for gender-confused athletes.
In 2021, World Rugby, the international governing body of rugby, banned biological men from women’s competition, stating, “Transgender women may not currently play women’s rugby… because of the size, force and power-producing advantages conferred by testosterone during puberty and adolescence, and the resultant player welfare risks this creates.”
Studies have repeatedly revealed that gender-confused males hold a massive advantage over women in athletic competitions. A recent study published in Sports Medicine found that a year of transgender hormone drugs results in “very modest changes” in the inherent strength advantages of men.