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National Poll Finds Majority Of Australians Want Trans Athletes Banned From Women's Sports

National Poll Finds Majority Of Australians Want Trans Athletes Banned From Women's Sports

The poll also revealed that 75% of Australians think there should be legal protections in place for female sport.

Max Sherry

Max Sherry

Results from an Australian poll show that the majority of people Down Under are in support of banning transgender athletes from women's sports.

The national poll, conducted by Binary Australia, surveyed 1,500 Aussies with 67% of them wanting women's sport to be strictly for biologically females only.

Incredibly, the poll also revealed that 75% of Australians think there should be legal protections in place for female sport.

Lia Thomas.
UPenn

Binary Australia director Kirralie Smith described the results as a "wake up call" for politicians.

"Almost three quarters of all people surveyed want legal protections for their mothers, daughters, sisters and female friends in sport," Smith told The Daily Telegraph.

"We have separate sporting categories for males and females because there are scientific, evidenced-based differences between men and women.

"Males are faster, or stronger, than the top females. Whether it is athletics, swimming, rowing or weightlifting, males outperform females every time."

Kirralie Smith.
Alamy

These findings come just a week after UPenn trans swimmer Lia Thomas, formerly Will Thomas before her transition in 2019, shattered multiple US women's records in the pool.

Thomas' recent success competing against women, having swam against men for the majority of her life, sparked huge debate online with Thomas herself copping some pretty nasty backlash.

A number of her UPenn teammates have now come out and described exactly what it's like competing against Thomas.

"They feel so discouraged because no matter how much work they put in it, they're going to lose. Usually, they can get behind the blocks and know they out-trained all their competitors and they're going to win and give it all they've got," an anonymous female swimmer told OutKick.

"Now they're having to go behind the blocks knowing no matter what, they do not have the chance to win. I think that it's really getting to everyone.

"Usually everyone claps, everyone is yelling and cheering when someone wins a race. Lia touched the wall and it was just silent in there. When [UPenn swimmer] Anna [Kalandadze] finished second, the crowd erupted in applause."

In a different interview with OutKick, another UPenn teammate openly admitted that many of the swimmers at the university are against Thomas competing.

"Pretty much everyone individually has spoken to our coaches about not liking this. Our coach [Mike Schnur] just really likes winning. He's like most coaches. I think secretly everyone just knows it's the wrong thing to do," the female swimmer said.

"When the whole team is together, we have to be like, 'Oh my gosh, go Lia, that's great, you're amazing.' It's very fake."

Featured Image Credit: PA/UPenn

Topics: SPORT, transgender athletes, Trans, Australia, transgender