Emily Bridges: Transphobia is rife – I will fight British Cycling in the courts and on the streets

Emily Bridges, the trans female cyclist, says she will take British Cycling to court over its decision to ban transgender women from competing in the female category.

Bridges, 21, who previously described the ruling as “genocidal”, added that British Cycling should be focused on increasing diversity rather than “waging war” on trans athletes.

Bridges – who set a national junior men’s record over 25 miles in 2018 – began hormone therapy in 2021 to reduce her testosterone levels and was on the point of competing against Olympic stars such as Laura Kenny at last year’s British National Omnium Championships before the International Cycling Union ruled she was ineligible.

Cycling’s governing body ruled that Bridges was not compliant with its regulations as she was still registered as a male cyclist.

When British Cycling announced this May that riders born male were banned from racing against women in British competitive events, it effectively ended any chance Bridges had of competing at the Olympic Games in Paris next year. Bridges will now have to race in an “open” category alongside men riders.

Bridges launched a scathing attack on the governing body at the time, accusing it of a “violent attack” and describing it as a “failed organisation”.

Writing in British Vogue magazine this week, Bridges said she would be “fighting British Cycling’s decision in the courts and the streets”, once again citing a Canadian study that suggested she did not enjoy any physical advantages over biological females.

‘British Cycling should improve accessibility not wage war on trans competitors’

“At the end of last year, a report by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport found that biomedical factors, such as bone density and lung size, do not pose an advantage for trans athletes, but that social factors – like nutrition and training quality – may do,” Bridges wrote in Vogue.

“I have dedicated my body to assisting research currently being undertaken at Loughborough University to shed more light on the issue. And yet, the International Swimming Federation, the International Rugby League, and British Triathlon have also announced policies banning trans athletes since June 2022. Most recently, the International Chess Federation announced that transgender women have “no right to participate” in women’s chess events.”

Bridges argued the net effect of such policies was to increase transphobia, which she claimed was rife. She added that British Cycling should “focus its efforts on improving accessibility and making a concerted effort to diversify” rather than “wage war” on trans competitors.

“Sport is inherently unfair,” she wrote. “There are other barriers, too: cycling is still an elitist sport, one where diversity, particularly at a competitive level, is bleak.”

‘I am divesting from cycling... I have to’

Bridges took aim at the Great Britain Cycling Team, saying that the team has just three non-white cyclists out of the 55 listed on British Cycling’s website. Bridges concluded she was happier than ever with her decision to transition despite “the death threats and hateful messages I receive regularly”.

But she said her relationship with cycling was now “complicated” and that she needed to step away from the sport for her own mental health.

“I’m divesting from the sport – I have to,” Bridges wrote. “While I have learnt not to attach my entire self-worth to cycling, I’ll still be fighting British Cycling’s decision in the courts and the streets. I’ll continue to march with my trans siblings and use the voice I have to challenge injustice in the world.”

Bridges appears in The Vogue 25, which selects the most influential ‘Powerhouse’ British women in 2023, but her inclusion has caused anger among campaigners.

Fiona McAnena, the director of sport at Fair Play for Women, told Telegraph Sport: “It’s shocking, isn’t it – it’s once again a real kick in the teeth for women. We have any number of outstanding female athletes and Vogue will prefer to showcase a male cyclist who has not performed at the highest level. Emily Bridges is not yet a successful international cyclist so it’s hard to see why Bridges is there.

“Katarina Johnson-Thompson became the world champion in the heptathlon – she is a world champion in a really tough event. She should be in there, not Bridges.”

British Cycling declined to comment on the matter when approached by Telegraph Sport.