Member's statement: Women' s Sport: Transgender Ban
Member's statement by Ms Diane Forsythe on .
- MLA
- Ms Diane Forsythe
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 11 November 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Women' s Sport: Transgender Ban
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5349072
Read the official Assembly record
Text
It was great to see a strong move for common sense in the world of women's sport this week. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has moved a step closer to introducing a blanket ban on transgender women from female categories across all sports. The IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, vowed to bring in the policy as part of her election campaign and subsequently set up a working group on the protection of women's sport. After a presentation by the IOC's medical chief, sources have said that a ban is likely to be introduced in 2026. The initial findings of the IOC's science-based review suggested that athletes who were born male retain physiological advantages even after reducing their testosterone levels. I would say that that is and always has been common sense. It is simple biology, and the fact that there has been such a debate about it shows how far our society has gone to appease the woke agenda. I am pleased to see that positive progress for women in sport. Women's rights have been hard fought for across many domains, including sport. We are still not on an equal footing, but we have made significant progress. The recent compromising of women's rights through some attempt to be politically correct is unfair and wrong. I unashamedly stand up for the rights of women: the rights of biological women and of all women and girls from the moment that they are formed in the womb. I feel so strongly about the inequalities that women and girls face in sport that I have brought forward proposals for a private Member's Bill in order to address the issues in Northern Ireland. I thank all those who have engaged with and completed the consultation on the proposed Bill. Some of the key points that I want to address about women and girls' sport are to do with equality, safety and fairness. On equality, I want to remove barriers for women and girls who wish to access sport. I want to improve safety in sport through having safeguarding processes in place and securing single-space changing facilities for women and girls.
I want us to ensure fair competition in sports between biological women and girls. Together, we can make a difference for all women and girls in sports in Northern Ireland. As I said at the start of my remarks, this is a good day for women's rights, a good day for women's sports and a good day for common sense.
414 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues
Jev’s structured answers met every documented threshold for a qualifying culture-war activity.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.67 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- Criteria met: Identity framing (0.80); Sectarian or communal antagonism (0.62); Dog-whistle messaging (0.91).
- The text adopts the identity-based framing in its own voice (0.89).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- The text adopts an antagonistic or dog-whistle framing, which qualifies even alongside legitimate scrutiny.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.80 | Yes |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.62 | Yes |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.14 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.91 | Yes |
| Controversy escalation | 0.34 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.58 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.67 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.11 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it (chosen) | 0.89 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.72 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.20 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.07 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:37 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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