To whom it may concern.
I have held a MTBA/Cycling Australia/AusCycling membership continuously since 2006 I believe. I have proudly represented my state and my country at cycling competitions worldwide. I recently declined to renew my membership primarily due to the UCI, and by governance, the AusCycling policy on biological men competing in women's competition.
In June 2022 the UCI claimed to be in the possession of new scientific evidence and reduced the testosterone threshold to 2.5 nmol/L and doubled the time that biological men must keep it at this level for international competition to 24 months. But no scientific study can compare the athletic performance of a man who has taken hormones for 2 years, to the fictional woman he 'would' have been had he been born with two X chromosomes. No study can do that with any accuracy, because one of those subjects has never existed. Women are not the sum total, nor should be defined by, their testosterone levels. Correspondingly, there is no testosterone level at which a man becomes a woman.
While I am not aware of specific transgender athletes currently competing, I believe continuing to make policy on the run when one presents, and performs 'too well', is cruel to the individual and needlessly makes questions of competition fairness personal. Until bodies such as the UCI and AusCycling stipulate a separate competition category for transgender athletes, I will not be forwarding any further funds in support of such bodies. I sincerely hope women's categories are afforded more respect in future, and that the UCI and its associates reconsider their position, as bodies such as FINA and the IAAF have done.
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