40,000+ urge International Olympic Committee: “KEEP WOMEN’S SPORTS FOR WOMEN”

  • IOC receives petition demanding that women not be “forced to compete with men” in future Olympic games
  • Elite athletes speak out about importance of biological sex, as landmark challenge to law banning harmful drugs and surgeries hits US Supreme Court 

WASHINGTON, DC (4th December) – Over 40,000 people from around the world have signed a joint open letter to the International Olympic Committee, imploring them to protect “women’s sports, private spaces, and basic fairness” in light of increasing pressure to include biological males in women’s sporting categories. 

READ THE PETITION IN FULL HERE

The petition, which was hand-delivered to the IOC’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland by ADF International, states: “Men and women are different. Their physical differences give men athletic advantages in sports. Scientific research continues to acknowledge this reality.” 

“However, governments and organizational bodies like the IOC have adopted policies that allow males who identify as female to compete in women’s sports. These policies prioritize feelings over fairness—ideology over truth.” 

“I’m one of so many young women that have lost out on medals and opportunities - simply because I wasn’t a male. What kind of message does that send?

- Riley Gaines, swimmer & campaigner for justice in women's sports

Commenting on the petition, Riley Gaines, who campaigns for justice in women’s sports having been forced to compete against males in swimming, said:

“As a college athlete, my safety and privacy in the locker room was repeatedly jeopardized because of sports bodies which put ideology before women’s rights. I’m one of so many young women that have lost out on medals and opportunities – simply because I wasn’t a male. What kind of message does that send?

“Women have raised concerns repeatedly about safety, privacy and fairness in women’s sports. The IOC is looked upon as a leader on sports policies. It must take heed of this petition, and take a stand for women around the world in protecting our sports – not only for this generation of athletes, but the little girls who one day dream of winning the gold.” 

Lost medals and opportunities

Women have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports to males competing in women’s sports categories, according to the report of Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, which was highlighted at a recent panel event hosted by ADF International at the UN Headquarters in New York. 

Males have a larger heart, greater lung capacity, greater muscle mass, more red blood cells, and less body fat than females, among other physiological advantages – all of which result in a significant performance advantage in sport. 

Commenting on the petition, British Olympian swimmer and sports commentator Sharron Davies said: 

“Women’s sport should never have been sacrificed on the altar of virtue-signalling gender ideology, against all the peer reviewed science in the first place. 

“I’d very much hoped after the betrayal of women during the GDR era I wouldn’t see the IOC do it again, but here we are. Let’s hope common sense & prioritising fairness & safety for female athletes will return soon. The willful negligence of the boxing during the Paris 2024 Olympics was a particular low point and a total disgrace.” 

Davies lost out on winning Olympic gold in the 1980s due to an East German competitor who had been given an unfair advantage, having been supplied with testosterone as a teenager to improve her performance.  

“Women’s sport should never have been sacrificed on the altar of virtue-signalling gender ideology, against all the peer reviewed science in the first place."

- Sharron Davies, British Olympian and author of "Unfair Play"

Supreme Court to consider biological reality 

The petition was delivered to the IOC days prior to a landmark case being heard at the US Supreme Court regarding a law that bans puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and certain surgeries for children.  

The state of Tennessee is defending its law that protects children from harmful, unnecessary, and high-risk medical procedures that alter their bodies to make them look like the opposite sex.   

Systematic reviews around the world have exposed the harmful risks of puberty blockers to children’s health. Several European countries and American states have banned puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children. 

“Gender ideology has countless victims, including children who, incapable of consenting to the harm, take toxic puberty blockers which can cause irreversible damage to their bodies – to young girls and women who suffer the consequences of the lie that men can become women.  

“Nobody is born in the wrong body – such a message is dangerous and abusive. Men and women are different and unique. We should celebrate our complementary strengths – not diminish them at the expense of the safety, privacy, and dignity of all involved,” said Elyssa Koren, Director of Legal Communications for ADF International. 

Images for free use in print or online in relation to this story only

Pictured:

Elyssa Koren, Director of Legal Communications for ADF International

Selina Soule, taking legal action after being forced to compete against male athletes, with support from ADF

Sharron Davies, British Olympian and author of “Unfair Play”

Felix Böllmann, legal counsel for ADF International, delivering petition to IOC HQ in Lausanne

Swiss authorities demand parents legally endorse gender “transition” of teenage daughter who has been separated from family for over a year 

  • Parents ordered by court to hand over legal documents to allow their daughter to “transition,” appeal is pending 

  • Backed by ADF International, parents seek reinstatement of their parental rights and to reunite with daughter, now 16, living in a government shelter since April 2023

  • Members of the public are invited to support the parents’ legal defence here

GENEVA (11 July 2024) – The teenage daughter of parents residing in Geneva, Switzerland, has been separated from her family for over a year after her parents objected to her gender “transition.” 

The case, currently unfolding in Swiss courts, centres on parents who responded to the mental health struggles of their daughter, who expressed “gender confusion,” with care and support, including obtaining mental health care for her.  

Concerned that their daughter was being pushed to make hasty and potentially irreversible decisions, they declined “puberty blockers” and explicitly rejected her school’s attempt to “socially transition” her. The school disregarded the parents’ explicit demand. 

For seeking to protect the health and wellbeing of their daughter, they now face a legal stand-off over their fundamental rights as parents to care for their child who, residing in a government shelter, is being encouraged to pursue dangerous medical interventions to “transition.” 

For safety reasons and to protect their children, the parents are speaking anonymously.

“The story is truly a nightmare. Swiss authorities have taken our child, our daughter, who’s 16 years old."

- Father

“My daughter now lives in a government home. Our access to her is regulated by the government.” 

The parents added: “I can’t believe we live in a society where your child can be taken away from you simply for trying to protect her.” 

“We want our daughter back home. We love her and we miss her,” the girl’s mother pleaded. 

Dr. Felix Boellmann, lead lawyer on the case for ADF International said: “Children who experience discomfort with their biological sex deserve to be treated with dignity and need compassionate mental health care, which these parents have gone to great lengths to provide. 

“These parents are living every parent’s worst nightmare. Their child has been taken away from them simply for trying to protect her from harm. 

“The implications of this are devastating not only for them as a family, but also for all of society. No society can claim to be free if parents can lose their daughter solely for affirming biological reality.” 

Parents plea for reunification and reinstatement of their rights 

The parents said: “As parents, we would do anything to protect our children from harm. We want the best for our kids.” 

“We love them and want to raise them to be honest, kind, and self-confident adults—both our daughter and our son, each in their own way.” 

“But right now, our daughter is still a minor, and she rightfully belongs in our home where we can help her navigate through life’s struggles in a way that is best for her long-term health and happiness.” 

Commenting on the case, parental rights campaigner Billboard Chris said: “No child has ever been born in the “wrong body”. As parents, we have the duty to guide and protect our children as they navigate puberty – steering them away from harmful ideologies, and empowering them to feel confident in their own skin. 

“This chilling case exposes the troubling grip of Western authorities: trampling over the health and wellbeing of a child for the sake of an ideology, and remaining severely out of touch with the leading science – including the evidence brought forward by the recent Cass Report about the harmful impact of puberty blockers on young females. The world should pay attention: the right outcome here is significant in the fight to protect kids everywhere.”

 

Background and the ideological “gender unicorn”  

In 2021, following other mental health concerns, the then 13-year-old told her parents that she felt her “gender identity” was male. This happened following the Covid pandemic, when she had spent a significant amount of time alone in her room and online.  

The parents took their daughter to a hospital for help. After a quick 30-minute meeting with doctors, in which she was shown the ideological “gender unicorn” diagram, the doctors said their daughter may be experiencing “gender dysphoria”.  

The “gender unicorn” is a controversial diagram based on the false premise that a person’s gender can change and that their gender is based on their feelings and will rather than biological reality.

The doctors told the parents their daughter should take puberty blockers, which the parents declined. They instead chose to obtain private mental health care for her.  

“The story is truly a nightmare.” 

During this period, the school, against the explicit wishes of the parents, began to “socially transition” the daughter. “Social transition,” as has been shown in the Cass Review, paves the way for irreversible physical interventions, such as the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical mutilation. 

The parents shared with the school peer-reviewed medical and scientific literature raising serious concerns about “social transitioning.” They also shared revised government policies from the increasing number of European countries that are moving away from “gender affirmative treatment” due to growing evidence of its harms. 

Following the parents’ objections to their daughter’s “transition,” the school liaised with the state child welfare agency, Service de Protection des Mineurs (SPMI).

They convened a meeting with the parents in which the parents were accused of abuse for seeking alternative care for their daughter. The child welfare agency would later tell the parents to “just accept that you have a son.” 

The daughter was separated from her parents in April 2023 following a court order placing her in a government-funded youth shelter. 

Legal challenge backed by ADF International 

The parents are appealing a court order, issued 28 February 2024, to hand over documents, which would allow their daughter to apply for a change of the “legal sex” in the civil register. The demand for the documentation followed the parents’ failed appeal to recover legal authority over the appointment of their daughter’s medical professionals, which had been granted to the child welfare agency by the court. 

“Not only have these parents committed no wrong, they absolutely must have their child returned home and are under no obligation to consent to the authority’s demands to allow dangerous medical interventions."

- Dr. Felix Böllmann, Director of European Advocacy for ADF International

The parents are currently awaiting a decision on their appeal on the matter of the documents.  

The parents seek to stop their daughter from “legally transitioning.” This would pave the way for irreversible medical interventions, such as the use of cross-sex hormones and body mutilating surgery, which would have grave consequences for her health and well-being.  

Amy Gallagher, the mental health nurse who is suing the UK Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“This case is terrifying. These parents have had their child taken from them by a State that is captured by gender ideology. I trust in faith and hope that the parents, with support from ADF International, will convince the legal authorities in Switzerland that this is not the path to take and the child is united with her parents swiftly. The Swiss authorities should take in to account the outcomes of the Cass Report and the increasing view that affirmation of transgenderism is dangerous. Hopefully Europe will follow NHS England in asserting the important of an evidence-base for treating children experiencing distress in relation to their biological sex.” 

Switzerland in violation of international 

Women’s rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen sees “a global push to destroy families and access our children.  The erasure of female language, particularly around motherhood is part of this.  Mothers are the protectors of children, fathers are the protectors of families.  The state does not know or love our children better than parents. 

“Similar stories of state kidnap of children who have parents who recognise the harm of the quasi-religious authoritarian cult of trans have been reported in Canada, USA, Australia and I suspect many have gone unreported elsewhere.

“I have been raising the alarm for some time about this overreach.  One must ask who is pushing this and why they might be doing it.  Nothing I’ve come up with is anything other than malevolent.

“Parents must not sleepwalk into surrendering our most important duty, protecting our children.  Trust your instincts and talk to your children.

“In the UK, many schools refuse to use “son”, “daughter”, “child” or “children”, and prefer to use “your young person”.  We must fight this creep of erasing both the relation to our children and the fact they’re children.”

International law holds that a child shall not be separated from her parents against their will, except in cases of abuse. 

Dr Boellmann states: “Swiss authorities are in clear violation of international and national law in separating this girl from her parents. 

“Not only have these parents committed no wrong, they absolutely must have their child returned home and are under no obligation to consent to the authority’s demands to allow dangerous medical interventions.  

“Further, they have the right and the duty to protect their daughter from the harms of this ideology. 

“Switzerland must act now to restore this child to her parents and address the egregious overstepping on the part of the school, hospital, and child welfare agency that allowed this nightmare scenario to unfold.” 

Steven Edginton, a GB News journalist who has reported on progressive ideology in the UK civil service, including transgender ideology, said:

“It is outrageous that the Swiss government has separated a child and their parents due to them objecting to the child’s wishes to ‘transition’.

“Children with mental health problems deserve love and support from their parents, not ‘affirmation’ from the state confirming their misplaced belief that they can change genders with life-changing puberty blockers and even surgery.

“The parents’ authority must trump the state over their own children, otherwise we live in a very sick society indeed. It is morally abhorrent that the Swiss authorities are attacking parental rights and pushing trans ideology on children.” 

Images for free use in print or online in relation to this story only