At least 6 Dutch sports federations discriminate against trans & non-binary athletes - NL Times

At least six Dutch sports federations require trans and non-binary athletes to apply for a waiver or undergo a medical assessment to compete in the sport, Pointer discovered. Football, golf, handball, speed skating, cycling, and rugby have these barriers for trans and non-binary athletes wishing to participate. That is discriminatory, Rabin Baldewsingh, the National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism (NCDR), told the program. According to the guidelines of the sports umbrella organization NOC*NSF, amateur athletes should be able to compete in the gender category with which they identify. Pointer researched all 77 Dutch sports federations’ policies regarding trans and non-binary amateur athletes to see whether they follow this rule. It found that this was not the case for football, golf, handball, speed skating, cycling, and rugby. In these sports, trans and non-binary athletes need to apply for a waiver to the rules, appear before a committee, or undergo a medical assessment to compete. Trans athletes can’t participate at all in some competitions, such as the NGF golf tournaments, because the rules require athletes to compete based on their sex assigned at birth.