‘This Person Is A Man’: Female Fencer Describes Getting Boot After Forfeiting Match Against Male

Fencer Stephanie Turner told “America Reports” co-hosts John Roberts and Sandra Smith about her expulsion from a fencing tournament after she forfeited a match to avoid competing against a man.

Turner knelt down rather than face Redmond Sullivan, who competed in the men’s division as recently as June 2023 according to FencingTracker.com, during the Cherry Blossom Open at the University of Maryland. Turner told Roberts that USA Fencing left her “no choice.” (RELATED: MSNBC Trots Out 2 Trans Kids In Attempt To Dunk On Trump For Protecting Women’s Sports)

“I told [officials] that I was refusing to fence because this person is a man, and I am a woman, and this is a women’s tournament, and I refuse to fence on principle,” Turner told Roberts about the match with Sullivan, who won women’s tournaments in Connecticut in December and March.

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Turner was given a black card and escorted from the tournament for her decision to forfeit the match, Fox News reported.

“There is nothing for me, and there is everything for him because I have no choice as a woman, as a female in where I compete,” Turner told Roberts and Smith. “I am a woman, and I have an athletic disadvantage to men, so I compete in the women’s division, which is where I rightfully am, but he has been given this opportunity to fence in the women’s division.”

“He can also compete at mixed events and local tournaments if he wants. There is a place for him,” Turner, who said she spent a lot of time and money preparing for the tournament, continued. “So the idea that they are creating – they are expanding the women’s is just essentially making it an open tournament that can include men, and it ends up hurting me and other girls.”

Roberts then read a statement from USA Fencing about the incident.

“USA fencing enacted our current transgender and non-binary athlete policy in 2023,” Roberts read from the statement. “The policy was designed to expand access to the sport of fencing and create inclusive, safe spaces.”

Debate surrounding males who identify as transgender competing in women’s sports gained national attention following transgender-identifying athlete Lia Thomas’s participation in the 2022 NCAA championships, where he won the 500-yard women’s final. (Click Here To Watch The Daily Caller Documentary “Do No Harm”)

Multiple college teams have also elected to forfeit matches against San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball team due to the presence of a biological male on the school’s roster, after the player allegedly spiked a ball into the face of a San Diego State University player in October of 2024 the Los Angeles Times reported.

North Carolina high school volleyball player Payton McNabb suffered a career-ending concussion when a transgender player’s spike hit her in the face in a similar play during a September 2022 volleyball match. She later testified in April 2023 about medical problems she suffered as a result of the incident.

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