Advocacy groups call for WTA to drop sex-testing policy

NEW YORK, Aug 13 : The Sport & Rights Alliance on Thursday called on the Women's Tennis Association to drop its sex-testing policy, calling it a discriminatory measure in the game.

The women's tennis tour said last month it would require players to clear a one-time gene test for the SRY gene, which helps in determining biological sex and can be conducted via cheek swab or blood test.

"The WTA can claim it does not intend to cause harm, but good intentions will never erase the stigmatisation and trauma that women and girls will suffer due to sex testing," said Andrea Florence, the executive director of the Sport & Rights Alliance, a coalition of advocacy groups.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach the WTA for comment.

The move came after the International Olympic Committee announced in March that only biological female athletes whose gender has been determined by a one-time test would be eligible to take part in women's category events at the Games.

"The WTA has hurriedly cobbled together a policy that does not advance the rights of women and girls but instead undermines the safety and dignity of everyone on the tour," said Lily Dong Li Rosengard, advocacy senior specialist at ILGA World, an advocacy group for the LGBTQ community.

"Despite the fact that no out trans women are currently competing at the professional level, all women and girl tennis players will now have to 'prove' their gender just so the WTA can ensure they never play at all.”

The sex-testing measure emerged as a key topic at the start of the Canadian Open, with top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus backing the policy.

American twice Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff said she supported fairness in women's sports but feared the measure had generated animosity toward the trans community.