Sport is a mirror and a magnifying glass for society, this time as it deals with the exclusions and harms that have all too often impeded athletes with variations of sex development.

For social, cultural and historical reasons, as well as from a basic commitment to fairness, much of sport is organized by sex or gender. The vast majority of persons fit easily into male and female binary categories, developing and thriving as athletes on community playgrounds, and all the way onto podiums at elite international events. However, for the small group who identify (or have been labeled) as transgender or intersex, the opportunities for participation are hampered by the confusion or prejudice from seemingly not clearly fitting into one or the other category.

For several decades, sports bodies in Canada and internationally have struggled with various medical programs for sex verification, including “gender testing.” But this desire to definitively demarcate sex has proven to be scientifically elusive. Of much more serious concern, it has also been harmful for some of the athletes ensnared by the ill-considered, usually inconclusive testing. From the stories and experiences of transgender and intersex persons, including transgender and intersex athletes, society is becoming more aware of the fact that sex is not universally binary, and that as a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon, sex cannot be determined by any simple or arbitrary marker.

Sport is in transition because...

• more and more transgender and intersex athletes at all levels are at risk of falling into the still-often-hostile uncertainty brought about by medical tests, or from obsolete attitudes and structures in sport’s governance.
• medical verification of sex, or “gender testing,” has proven to be not only intrusive and inaccurate, but also premised on the still-lingering Cold War suspicions that presume athletes with variations of sex development are motivated by cheating and must be policed.
• the need to welcome and protect transgender or intersex athletes is increasingly understood to be of an urgency that, because sex is naturally complicated, can no longer wait in the hope for a scientifically perfect and uncontroversial solution to sex determination. 
• many of its bodies and regulators are already trying or anxious to reform policies for inclusion, particularly to fulfill their duty of care towards transgender and intersex athletes, while maintaining the level playing field (or fairness) that is essential for sport’s legitimacy and integrity.
• society is in transition as well, as we encounter sex and gender barriers in other spheres of culture, entertainment, or competition, and develop the public awareness and resources for reinforcing fairness in all our institutions and activities.