Who is Stephanie Turner? Women's fencer who knelt to protest trans opponent and ignited global awareness

Women's fencer Stephanie Turner became a household sanction overnight among activists for women's rights successful sports.

A viral video of Turner kneeling to protestation a transgender hostile ignited much statement astir transgender inclusion successful women's sports, particularly fencing. 

"It volition probably, astatine slightest for the moment, destruct my life," Turner told Fox News Digital. "It's precise hard for maine to bash this."

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Her determination was driven by her absorption to competing against biologic males. 

"This is simply a superior contented that is happening wrong each sports, and it needs to beryllium addressed. There is simply a quality betwixt men and women," Turner said. "It is simply a civilian rights question for women and girls, and I prioritize the information and rights and extortion of women and girls implicit trans-identified males." 

Her content adjacent overpowered her lifelong governmental allegiance. 

Turner, a long-time registered Democrat who broke from the enactment for the astir caller election, says she is present a "new Republican conservative."

She switched parties implicit the contented of transgender athletes successful women's and girls sports. 

"A tiny radical of radical is holding a overmuch larger jock basal hostage to extremist wide views," Turner said. 

How did it get to this point? 

She comes from a wide background

Fencer Stephanie Turner kneels successful beforehand of a USA Fencing official. (Courtesy of Icons)

Turner was calved and raised successful Washington D.C., and present lives successful heavy bluish Montgomery County, Maryland. 

Over the years, she's been progressive successful a adjacent person group, which includes different fencers. It besides includes aggregate members of the LGBT community.

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"They did not cognize I had this sentiment astir transgender women successful women's sports. And 1 of them was 1 of my truly bully friends astatine the [fencing] club. He's successful the LGBT community, and a batch of my friends are besides successful the LGBT community. And I don't privation them to beryllium huffy astatine maine for this. I emotion them connected a idiosyncratic level. 

"I don't privation them to deliberation that I someway hatred them. And I don't privation to suffer them arsenic friends." 

But Turner besides feels she can't person morganatic discussions with immoderate radical astir the issue. 

"They prevarication and accidental that estrogen tin marque a antheral a pistillate besides to the constituent wherever you tin not archer the difference, and it conscionable becomes an insane argument."

She started fencing successful assemblage and gradually avoided trans competitors

Turner, 31, ventured into competitory fencing 12 years agone astatine property 19. She joined the nine astatine the University of Maryland and has stuck with it ever since. She aboriginal qualified to vie successful USA Fencing. 

"I perpetrate a batch of clip and wealth for this," Turner said, citing travel, instrumentality and registration expenses.

Turner's authoritative Fencing Tracker leafage shows 21 podium finishes, including a golden medal successful women's foil astatine an lawsuit called the Trick oregon Retreat ROC Aug. 18 successful Edison, New Jersey. 

Stephanie Turner (Courtesy of Sophie Turner; Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

But she got to a constituent successful her vocation erstwhile she had to beryllium alert of the USA Fencing authoritative sex eligibility policy.

The authoritative argumentation allows for transgenders to vie successful the women's class successful some the inferior and elder level aft completing one calendar twelvemonth of testosterone suppression treatment. Proof of compliant hormone therapy indispensable beryllium provided anterior to competition.

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USA Fencing has a argumentation announced successful November 2022 to springiness penchant erstwhile selecting big cities for nationalist tournaments to states without laws that "harm members of LGBTQ communities" and states that bash not "have laws undermining the reproductive wellness of women."

"In fencing, personally, I spot it rather often," Turner said. "I person witnessed transgender fencers successful women's tournaments and girls tournaments successful antithetic property categories, specifically Y-14 (the youngest property group)." 

Turner had a erstwhile acquisition avoiding a trans hostile successful the summertime of 2013. She saw reports of a trans jock who she had antecedently known arsenic a biologic antheral fencer, by different name. When Turner saw the jock was listed arsenic a rival successful that year's Summer Nationals, she decided not to go. 

"I ne'er registered due to the fact that I knew that helium was going to beryllium successful there," Turner said. "In erstwhile years, erstwhile I had known astir transgender fencers being present, I conscionable didn't register."

She ended up facing a trans jock past play and decided to bash thing different

Turner ever made definite to debar registering for events aft vetting them for trans athletes.

But what she couldn't foresee was 1 of them registering aft she did. 

That happened for the archetypal clip past play for a Division I-A lawsuit called the Cherry Blossom Open astatine her alma mater, the University of Maryland. Redmond Sullivan, who antecedently competed successful the men's division, according to Fencing Tracker, was registered and placed successful the aforesaid bracket arsenic Turner. 

She lone learned this astatine 10:30 p.m. the nighttime earlier her matchup with Sullivan. 

By that point, she was considering a antithetic attack to handling the concern considering however predominant trans inclusion was becoming.

"I had contemplated successful the aboriginal that I wanted to debar not registering for events, conscionable due to the fact that a transgender idiosyncratic was there, due to the fact that it could conscionable beryllium each azygous 1 of my events has a transgender person," Turner said. 

"So, I was like, ‘You cognize what, I’m conscionable going to springiness it to God. If this idiosyncratic shows up into my event, and they're connected my strip, past I volition instrumentality a knee, and that would beryllium God's will." 

But Turner wanted to instrumentality things a measurement further, a measurement she knew could "destroy her life," but she did it anyway.

Just minutes earlier she took the portion to kneel against Sullivan, she went to 1 of her closest friends connected the nine for a favor. 

"I said, ‘I’m astir to bash something, and I privation you to movie it. I'm truly tense astir it, and this is your past accidental to permission if you privation to,' due to the fact that I didn't cognize what the absorption was going to be," Turner said.

Her person agreed to movie the kneel, signaling a country that would beryllium witnessed crossed the fencing world. 

Turner was past dealt a achromatic card, disqualified from the lawsuit and escorted retired truthful rapidly she didn't get to accidental different connection to her teammates, trainers oregon anyone else. 

Turner's kneel has ignited planetary conversations and adjacent a commercial 

Turner didn't privation this role. She admits to being a backstage idiosyncratic without immoderate societal media channels who "enjoys anonymity."

"I was hoping idiosyncratic other would travel guardant oregon the committee of directors would person a alteration of heart," Turner said.

A nonprofit fencing enactment penned an unfastened missive to USA Fencing Board Members successful December, urging the nationalist governing assemblage for the athletics to reevaluate its stance connected respective issues, including transgender inclusion.

"Politics aside, it is simply a tenable petition to signifier a task unit to bash a deeper dive connected this contented successful fencing and make a harmless abstraction wherever the voices of each women are heard without ridicule and abuse," the missive said.

But thing was done.

Turner is the latest combatant successful the ongoing civilization warfare implicit the contented of trans athletes successful women's sports. She has done a televised interrogation connected Fox News Channel, her communicative has been covered by aggregate media outlets and she is adjacent featured successful a commercial. 

The sports activistic marque XX-XY Athletics released its caller commercialized featuring the clip of Turner's kneel Thursday. 

For her, it's each worthy it if it means holding institutions similar USA Fencing and politicians who person continued to alteration trans inclusion accountable. 

"It's a litmus trial for communal consciousness successful whether a person is capable to prevarication to your look to abide to communal culture," Turner said. 

"Something needs to beryllium done." 

USA Fencing provided a connection to Fox News Digital addressing the incident. 

"USA Fencing enacted our current transgender and nonbinary jock policy in 2023. The argumentation was designed to grow entree to the athletics of fencing and make inclusive, harmless spaces. The argumentation is based connected the rule that everyone should person the quality to enactment successful sports and was based upon the probe disposable of the day," the connection said.

"We respect the viewpoints connected each sides and promote our members to proceed sharing them with america arsenic the substance evolves. It's important for the fencing assemblage to prosecute successful this dialogue, but we expect this speech to beryllium conducted respectfully, whether astatine our tournaments oregon successful online spaces. The mode to advancement is by respectful treatment based successful evidence." 

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A USA Fencing spokesperson besides told Fox News Digital Turner was not penalized for her stance against trans inclusion, but simply for refusing to fence. 

"In the lawsuit of Stephanie Turner, her disqualification was not related to immoderate idiosyncratic connection but was simply the nonstop effect of her determination to diminution to obstruction an eligible opponent, which the FIE rules intelligibly prohibit," the spokesperson said.

"According to the FIE (International Fencing Federation) Technical Rules, specifically Article t.113, a fencer is not permitted to garbage to obstruction different decently entered fencer for immoderate reason. Under these rules, specified a refusal results successful disqualification and the corresponding sanctions. This argumentation exists to support just contention standards and sphere the sport’s integrity." 

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