USA Fencing board director wrote opus in support of trans athletes before disqualifying female fencer who protested trans opponent

A director on the USA Fencing board once published an opus in support of trans athletes — less than two years before the athletic organization disqualified a female fencer from a tournament because she refused to compete against a trans opponent.Damien Lehfeldt, the board’s elected At-Large Director, outlined his staunch position in a long-winded, Aug.30, 2023, blog post, where he defended the right of trans fencers to compete against women, despite conceding they may have “a physical advantage.” “There is a possibility that transgender women have a physical advantage over their cisgender opponents after transitioning,” the board member wrote.“There is also a possibility they do not.

In Fencing, there is no data to support either viewpoint.Giving athletes a sense of belonging and a will to live is more powerful than medals and competitive glory,” continued.“Transgender women are women and gender is not sex,” he insisted, adding, “Transgender fencers deserve the right to compete with the gender they identify with.”Lehfeldt was part of the board that expelled Stephanie Turner from the Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland over the weekend, because the 31-year-old opted to take a knee rather than compete against trans fencer Redmond Sullivan – a move that critics have ripped as unjust. A now-viral video of the March 30 incident shows Turner preparing to duel before she abruptly takes off her mask, tosses it aside, and kneels in front of her stunned-looking opponent.Sullivan is a sophomore athlete on the Wagner College women’s fencing team.

 “When I took the knee, I looked at the ref and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I cannot do this.I am a woman, and this is a man, and this is a women’s tournament.

And I will not fence this individual,” Turner told Fox News of her decision. “Redmond says to me, ‘Well you know, there is a member on the board of directors here who supports me, and there is a policy that acknowledges me as a woman, so I am...