Transgender darts player says ban was based on flawed study

Transgender darts player Noa-Lynn van Leuven has said a report that was used to justify her being banned from professional women’s tournaments was “not independent”.

Van Leuven, 29, was excluded from the Professional Darts Corporation’s (PDC) events after it ruled that transgender women have a slight physical advantage over people who were born female, including more muscle mass and better hand-eye co-ordination.

The decision was based on a study by Emma Hilton, a developmental biologist at Manchester University who is also one of the co-founders of Sex Matters, a lobby group that has campaigned to ban transgender athletes from women’s sport on the grounds that it makes competition unfair.

Van Leuven told NOS sports radio programme Langs de Lijn: “In my opinion the investigation that was used is not entirely independent.”

She said the report only studied the biological differences between men and women. “But it doesn’t take into account things like the effects that hormone replacement treatment can have.”

“It’s hard to take,” she added. “I still can’t really understand it, but I’m trying to look forward and not let it spoil my enjoyment of the game.”

Supreme Court ruling

Van Leuven said she believed the political climate in the United Kingdom, where the Supreme Court ruled last year that protection for women under equality law only applied to people whose biological sex was female, had influenced the decision.

“It’s becoming harder in Britain to live your life as a trans person, to say nothing of America. And the PDC is based in Britain,” she said.

She also said she was disappointed that she had not received more support from leading Dutch darts players such as Michael van Gerwen.

“Obviously he has to focus on his own career and it’s not as if we see much of each other on the tour. But I do think it’s a shame in a way.”