Politics
GOP Gov. Phil Scott wins reelection in blue Vermont
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott’s (R) easily won reelection in the state’s gubernatorial race, according to projections from Decision Desk HQ. With his victory in the largely blue state, Scott will enter his fifth term as governor. The Green Mountain State is one of two states — New Hampshire being the other — that offers unlimited…
Read More
The head of FIFA’s anti-discrimination partner is calling on the international soccer body to not adopt a ban on transgender athletes at the Women’s World Cup, after the Trump administration publicly announced its intention to pressure the organization to do so last week.
Andrew Giuliani, the head of the White House World Cup Task Force, told Blue Light News Thursday that getting FIFA to guarantee that “women play in the Women’s World Cup and not biological men” could represent a lynchpin issue during planning negotiations for the 2031 tournament.
If successful, the endeavor would represent a major victory for the Trump administration’s efforts to bar transgender women from competing in women’s and girls’ sports domestically and abroad. Earlier this year, the International Olympic Committee adopted a blanket ban for its female categoriesthat paralleled an earlier White House executive order.
But Piara Powar, the executive director of anti-discrimination group Fare network, warned that such a restriction would only further stigmatize transgender athletes and marginalize women with intersex characteristics.
“We think it’s important that even if a ban comes into force for the World Cup in 2031 it should not be embedded in FIFA regulations permanently,” Powar wrote in a text message to Blue Light News. “FIFA should not go the way of the IOC and exclude human beings from participation in football.”
FIFA did not respond to requests for comment.
The organization currently has no centralized sex-verification regime, instead requiring each national federation to verify the eligibility of its players before submitting rosters, including investigating “any perceived deviation in secondary sex characteristics” and maintaining documentation of its findings.
The IOC’s policy, meanwhile, dictates that athletes competing in female categories undergo a one-time genetic screening.
Powar said such a ban at FIFA would impact women with medical conditions known as differences in sex development, or DSDs, which can manifest as testosterone levels outside the typical female range and having male chromosomes.
Jon Holmes, spokesperson for the advocacy group Football v Homophobia similarly warned that women with DSDs would “bear the brunt of this.”
He suggested that the administration’s efforts are largely performative — noting that “there’s no suggestion anyone is near international level,” referring to transgender female soccer players.
Payoshni Mitra, an advocate for abolishing sex testing in women’s sports, however, said in an interview Friday that it was too early to speculate about a policy that doesn’t exist, but noted that she “will be very, very surprised if suddenly they come up with a very exclusionary policy.”
Mitra said she’d hope that FIFA acts “in a way that is based on science,” adding: “If they come up with a policy, the policy will be based on science, evidence-based science, and also should take into account athlete well-being and the other conditions that concern these policies.”
FIFA has yet to formally announce the location of the 2031 tournament, for which the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica have submitted the sole joint bid. Giuliani said Thursday that the organization had already told President Donald Trump that the U.S. would host the contest.
Powar pleaded with other sporting groups to consider the human price of hosting their tournaments in the U.S., despite the lucrative commercial appeal of the country.
“We would urge all sports bodies to think of the credibility of their sport and the harmful impact of accepting all U.S. conditions of hosting — it may come at the cost of excluding participants,” Powar wrote. “And in football, a sport that has always been the most open and accessible, that could be devastating.”
As you wait for the opening whistle between Spain and Argentina, take a few minutes to understand the secret political history behind the fraught tournament just wrapping up, from Zurich to the Meadowlands.
Sophia Cai’s Blue Light News Magazine story “How the World Cup Became the Trump Trophy,” shows how the U.S. nearly destroyed FIFA and then made it stronger than ever, and how a tournament hatched as an exercise in North American cooperation became Trump’s plaything.
You can read Sophia’s story here.
- FIFA anti-discrimination partner warns against Olympic-style transgender ban
- How the United Bid became the Trump Trophy
- Ships continue to move through Strait of Hormuz, Chris Wright says
- Crypto regulatory text expected to be released Thursday does not have Senate Democrat support
- Republicans take first step to move $95B party-line package
- The World Cup conundrum of Europe’s far right
- Democrats look to World Cup watch parties to register thousands of voters
- Taylor Farms expands lettuce recall to 27 states
- US military unleashes retaliatory strikes against Iran after soldiers killed in Jordan
- White House official defends Argentina’s use of Falklands banner
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship10 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words