Following Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson's signing of a bill prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating on school sports teams that match their gender identity, the 2022 UCI Cyclocross World Cup and World Championships race director Brooke Watts issued an official statement condemning the law and appealing to fans not to boycott the event.

"Governor Hutchinson's signing of SB-354, a bill that prohibits transgender women and girls from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity, is discriminatory and hateful," Watts wrote in an open letter.

The Arkansas legislature passed a bill called the "Equity in Women's Sports Act" ostensibly to protect biological female athletes from competing against transgender athletes who might benefit from higher testosterone levels. The bill would apply not only to public schools and universities, but also to private institutions and clubs that might compete with public schools.

The bill also allows female athletes who have been "deprived of athletic opportunities" or have suffered direct or indirect harm to sue educational institutions that do not comply with the ban.

However, the law has already sparked a backlash: more than 500 college athletes have signed a letter asking the NCAA Board of Directors to refuse to schedule championship games in states that ban transgender sports participation.

"We urge you to ensure that the NCAA adheres to its purported guidelines and standards by making a firm statement that you will only operate championships and events in states that uphold the NCAA's anti-discrimination policy and promote an inclusive atmosphere," the letter states.

A boycott by the NCAA could cause a massive exodus of events from Arkansas, as happened in North Carolina in 2016. The law sparked a huge backlash, causing many organizations, including the NCAA and NBA, to cancel events in the state, losing billions of dollars in revenue.

The threat of a similar boycott in Arkansas, Watts says, would unfairly hurt those who support the cycling community. The World Cup is scheduled for October 13, 2021, and the World Championships for January 29-30, 2022.

"In light of this legislation, I can understand why people feel the need to boycott this event. However, I encourage you to think about the community that has worked to make this event happen and take action in other ways instead," Watts said. Please consider donating to one of the many organizations in Arkansas that are fighting to make our state more inclusive of transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people, such as the Fayetteville Trans Equality Network or the ACLU."

"This bigotry and harm on the part of the Governor and state legislature is completely inconsistent with the community I have come to know over the past 36 months as a contracted race organizer with the City of Fayetteville. The Fayetteville community I know is one that accepts and affirms all genders. This community--local racers, hard-working local businesses, race officials, and hundreds of volunteers--has worked incredibly hard to put on this event.

The legislation is part of a larger, very nuanced debate about how to incorporate LGBTQ rights while promoting gender equality between men and women, which is also tied to recent rulings on employment discrimination.

The Arkansas bill is just one of many being considered by state legislatures in the U.S., and North Carolina is just one of the states considering following suit. Democratic opponents, however, expressed confidence that the law would be found unconstitutional under Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.

"I think it's pretty clear that this law violates Title IX under Title IX. And it's based on an opinion that Neil Gorsuch wrote last year," Senator Clark Tucker (R-Little Rock) told NPR." In that opinion, he ruled that "federal civil rights law states that it is impossible to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation without discriminating on the basis of sex.

In 2017, the Trump administration withdrew Obama-era guidance that included gender identity in Title IX protections, but in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court redefined its interpretation of sex discrimination to encompass sexual orientation and gender identity under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination.

This decision raised the specter that legal challenges to Title IX, which has played a key role in promoting the development of women's college sports, could lead to a "slippery slope" that would undermine single-sex housing and sports teams and wipe out women's sports.

18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova is one of several high-level athletes who oppose the inclusion of gender identity in equality laws; according to the Independent Women's Forum, Navratilova has stated that "gender separation is the It is the only way."

The organization argues that "female athletes almost always lose to male athletes" because biological males, who may benefit from natural hormones and gain an advantage in sports, compete for limited positions on teams designated for women, and "this is not equal opportunity. This is male dominance."

However, Navratilova's comments led to the exclusion of these athletes, who are openly gay, from the advocacy group Athletes Ally. They are women, and like all athletes, they want to compete in the sport they love"

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The UCI and the IOC have been working on an equity solution to allow transgender athletes to participate in sports according to their gender identity, with the IOC allowing 10 nmol/L, while transgender women are required to keep their testosterone levels at the 5 nmol/L threshold requires them to have a testosterone level of 5 nmol/L.

"The International Cyclist Federation (UCI), the world governing body of cycling, recognizes the right of transgender athletes to participate in competitions on the UCI international calendar," the UCI said in a statement.

"In 2020, in line with the consensus adopted by other international federations, the UCI adopted a new directive in its statutes updating the eligibility rules for transgender athletes to the latest scientific findings."

"This new provision will encourage transgender athletes to compete in categories corresponding to their new gender . while encouraging transgender athletes to compete in the category corresponding to their new gender, with the aim of ensuring that all athletes can compete fairly in said competitions."

"The U.S. Olympic Committee has adopted a new directive that provides for the eligibility of transgender athletes.

"The UCI regrets that the State of Arkansas has adopted a law prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in school sport competitions. This law has no medical basis and cannot be justified with respect to sport equity and is therefore discriminatory.