Running Community Targeted for Being Trans-Inclusive

A free-running community has been targeted again for allowing trans women to compete in the women’s category.

Parkrun is a global organization with events each Saturday and Sunday in more than 20 countries around the world, according to its website. It offers several different distances for people to participate in.

The organization allows participants to allow people to identify with their gender instead of the sex assigned at birth. It also allows a range of options for people who identify as nonbinary.

“We feel this is aligned with us as a health and wellbeing charity that provides non-competitive, socially-focused physical activity, and allows people to identify in the way they feel most appropriate and comfortable,” the organization’s website states.

However, its trans-inclusive policy has now caught the ire of a group in the United Kingdom that is against having trans women in sports with cis women. A silver medal-winning swimmer, Sharron Davies and yachtswoman Tracy Edwards have threatened legal action if Parkrun doesn’t exclude trans women from the women’s category by next Friday.

Some runners are also protesting the group, including a U.K. club called the Reality Rules Runners UK club. They said that trans women have an advantage over cis women and that equates to discrimination, according to the British conservative tabloid the Daily Mail.

It comes more than a year after the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that trans women are not legally defined as women.

Parkrun’s inclusiveness has made it a target before. Earlier this year, several sports organizations, including Parkrun, were facing potential legal action over their inclusivity – this was spearheaded by the U.S-based Alliance for Defending Freedom, known for targeting LGBTQ+ people and organizations and championing far-right causes in court.

In May, more than 2,000 Parkrun participants signed a petition to members of the British Parliament defending its inclusive approach to running.