Official statement She must resign:Female darts players threatened with disciplinary action over refusal to play transgender opponents – after British star pulled out of two events in protest…..read more

Official statement She must resign:Female darts players threatened with disciplinary action over refusal to play transgender opponents – after British star pulled out of two events in protest…..read more

British female darts star Deta Hedman pulled out of two events in recent months
Hedman, 64, had been drawn to face transgender opponents in her matches
World Darts Federation issued a statement warning players over withdrawals

A Trans Darts Player Is Speaking Out After Cis Women Refused to Compete Against Her
“I just want to do what I love to do.”
By James Factora
May 20, 2024
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A trans professional darts player has spoken out after a player refused to play against her because of transphobia.

Noa-Lynn Van Leuven, who is currently ranked as the fifth-best female darts player in the entire world, recently appeared on the Dutch talk show Sophie & Jeroen to discuss the hate she’s received. Earlier this month, British darts player Deta Hedman abruptly withdrew from the Denmark Open quarter-final clash, in which she was set to compete against Van Leuven. Although some speculated that Hedman had fallen ill, she clarified that she “wouldn’t play a man in a ladies event” in a statement posted to X, misgendering van Leuven. She has since made many other posts signaling her opposition to trans women being included in women’s darts events.

Responding to accusations that she transitioned to gain a professional advantage, Van Leuven used her appearance on Sophie & Jeroen to dispel those claims, calling them “totally untrue.” “I have never seen anyone who has gone through the years of misery of transition only to perform better afterwards,” she said.

These kinds of allegations are commonly lobbed at trans athletes, such as Lia Thomas, the University of Pennsylvania swimmer who became the center of national controversy after winning the 500-yard freestyle race at the 2022 NCAA women’s championship. Opponents of trans inclusion in sports, however, have had far less to say about all the races that Thomas has lost: Two months before claiming the NCAA title, she finished sixth in a 100-meter freestyle event behind four cisgender competitors and Isaac Henig, a trans male swimmer. And in her last ever collegiate race, Thomas came in eighth place.

As national athletics governing bodies crack down on trans inclusion and states across the U.S. crack down on trans participation in athletics, Van Leuven stressed that she’s just like any other athlete. “All we want is to be ourselves. As trans people, we want to be respected,” she said. “I’m Noa-Lynn, I’m a woman and I just want to do what I love to do and happen to be good at, and that’s darts.”

Even as Van Leuven is forced to defend her integrity and the integrity of trans athletes everywhere, the backlash does not appear to be slowing down. In March, two veteran players on the national women’s darts team for the Netherlands, Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graaf, resigned in protest of Van Leuven’s participation. In a statement, Zijlstra misgendered her former teammate and called her a “biological man.” “I believe in sports there should be an equal and fair playing field, which should be used and accepted in good faith,” she said.

Van Leuven said that she has faced death threats for competing in women’s darts, particularly after a match in which she defeated Zijlstra. In an interview with Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, she also recounted a humiliating experience when, at a competition the following day, everyone in the room started clapping when she lost. “I felt very small,” she said. “In recent weeks I really had to withdraw for a while. …I don’t wish anyone the hell I went through to become who I am today. I didn’t do that to win some more prize money.”

There is no evidence that there are any biological advantages that darts players may experience based on their assigned sex at birth, as de Volkskrant reports. In general, research regarding whether trans athletes have a competitive advantage in sports has been inconsistent and inconclusive.