A major sponsor of a British Cycling race has pulled out in protest at the governing body suspending their transgender policy.
Peter Stanton is a significant benefactor of the Women’s CiCLE Classic, which is part of British Cycling’s National Road Series.
However, the engineer has withdrawn his funding of the race – and its men’s junior equivalent – over British Cycling’s ‘totally unacceptable’ decision to effectively block trans riders from competing.
The CiCLE Classic event, due to take place in Leicestershire on June 19, now needs to find sponsorship money of £15,000 by May 10 to prevent cancellation.
Last week, British Cycling announced they were suspending their existing trans policy pending a full review in the wake of the Emily Bridges controversy.
It meant trans woman Bridges, who had reduced her testosterone to the level required to ride as a female under the rules, was blocked from competing in domestic events, such as the CiCLE Classic.
Emily Bridges (pictured in 2018) was blocked from competing in domestic events following the decision by British Cycling to suspend their trans policy pending a full review
‘I am desperately saddened by the Emily Bridges case and the actions that it has prompted me to take,’ said Stanton, who has sponsored the race since its inception in 2016.
‘The transgender policy adopted by British Cycling had been the result of a full consultation process and was believed to have been working well until last week when it was suspended without any further consultation.
‘Whilst fully supportive of women’s sport, I also have many friends and colleagues within the transgender community whom I feel that I would be letting down if I did not make a stand to show my support for their rights.
‘This is not the first case of a transgender rider competing under UCI rules, or even as part of an official UCI team, and to arbitrarily change that position based on one individual case, I find totally unacceptable.
‘I…
Source : dailymail
