USA Fencing Explicitly Prioritizes Men’s Feelings Over Women’s Safety and Athletic Achievement

by Emily Washburn | April 4, 2025 | Culture

USA Fencing (USAF) disqualified Stephanie Turner from a fencing tournament last month after she refused to compete against a male athlete.

Her sacrifice has blown the lid off USAF policies prioritizing transgender-identified men’s feelings over biological women’s safety and achievement.

Stephanie Turner spent time and money training for a regional USAF tournament in March, only to learn Redmond Sullivan, a man, would also be competing.

“As a woman fencing in a women’s tournaments, I do not believe men should fence in my category,” Turner told ABC News yesterday. She continued:

I was not aware Mr. Sullivan was registered until the night before the tournament. I prayed about it and decided if Mr. Sullivan and I were to fence face-to-face, then I would peaceably protest by taking a knee.

Turner followed through, earning a black card (disqualification) for her trouble.

When the story gained national attention this week, Turner told ABC simply:

I want to thank God for trusting me with this mission to fight for female-exclusive sports and putting me in an effective place to protest.

What an admirable, godly response to such injustice. And trust me — “unjust” is the kindest word I can use to describe USAF’s actions.

The organization told news outlets Turner’s disqualification was nothing personal. Fencers that refuse to face “eligible opponents” must be disqualified, it told ABC.

But Sullivan is only an “eligible opponent” in the women’s category because of USAF’s 2023 policy allowing athletes to “participate in USA Fencing sanctioned events in a manner consistent with their gender identity/expression.”

The policy’s introduction reads, in part:

USA Fencing is committed to ensuring athletes have the opportunity to participate in USA Fencing sanctioned events on a fair, inclusive and safe basis without discrimination.

We recognize not all individuals’ gender identities are binary, and a gender binary default for participation could potentially cause harm — leaving some individuals to feel excluded and unsafe.

Far be it from USAF to make anyone feel “excluded or unsafe” — oh, except for women.

Predictably, USAF’s “Transgender and Nonbinary Policy” triggered a substantial increase of male athletes competing in women’s fencing competitions. Fox News reports:

By September 2023, four biological male fencers, who previously competed in the men’s category, achieved USA Fencing podium finishes in the women’s category.

One of these competitors was Redmond Sullivan.

USAF lauded the influx of trans competitors in a press release on the 2023-2024 fencing season’s “impact.” Under “Expanded Representation,” the release reads:

Year-over-year data show an upward trend in membership, with more women, and more non-binary athletes, trying fencing through local clubs and developmental programs.

By “women,” of course, USAF also means “men who identify as women.”

Turner is not the only member of the fencing enraged over USAF’s mistreatment of women. A non-profit called the Fair Fencing Organization (FFO) has written two open letters to USAF, one in December and one in February, asking it to reconsider its Transgender and Nonbinary Policy.

“It is disappointing that USA Fencing has intentionally been confusing … who should fence in what category with the nonexistent issue that [“transgender” fencers] should be allowed to fence,” FFO wrote in its most recent letter.

“It was never a question that all cisgender and transgender fencers should be allowed to fence, in the category of their birth sex.”

USAF’s board members voted 8-3 against revising or changing the contested policy in December. It’s unlikely this latest uproar will make any difference.

Consider this August 2023 blogpost from the board’s director at-large, Damien Lehfeldt.

“Before you dive in, it’s best to call out my beliefs up front before you waste your time reading this and find yourself throwing up your hands in a tizzy,” Lehfeldt writes, continuing:

Transgender women are women and gender is not sex.
Transgender fencers deserve the right to compete with the gender they identify with, and those of adult age should comply with the competition guidelines and regulations outlined by USA Fencing and the IOC—even if the science of those IOC guidelines might be imperfect.
A separate division denies them their truth to compete as their authentic selves and is antithetical to USA Fencing’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) vision.
There is a possibility that transgender women have a physical advantage over their cisgender opponents after transitioning. There is also a possibility they do not. In Fencing, there is no data to support either viewpoint.
Giving athletes a sense of belonging a will to live is more powerful than medals and competitive glory.

For the sake of brevity, I’ll touch only on Lehfeldt’s last point, where he explicitly states that the feelings of transgender-identified men are more important than women’s athletic success.

His descriptions are particularly telling. The men’s feelings, Lehfeldt implies, are so important that their “will to live” will desert them if they cannot compete against women. He trivializes women’s athletic ambitions, in comparison, minimizing them to the mere collection of medals or the vain pursuit of “glory.”

Taken together, Lehfeldt comments not only erase women as a biological category, but suggest they are selfish to ask transgender-identified men to compete in a separate category.

As a woman, and a former competitive athlete, I feel qualified to say — what a joke.

If Lehfeldt’s beliefs are representative of other USAF board members, than Stephanie Turner and her compatriots are facing down a proverbial goliath.

Happily, our God is in the business of toppling giants. Please pray for His intervention on behalf of female athletes in USAF.

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