It was a protest of quiet dignity but its message was heard around the world. Stephanie Turner, the 31-year-old fencer who last week dropped to one knee as a signal that she refused to compete against a biological male in a female event, has found herself acclaimed a “heroine” by JK Rowling for women’s rights.
One moment she was an unknown athlete from Maryland in an ancient sport. The next, her predicament was drawing the ire of Martina Navratilova, with the nine-time Wimbledon champion furiously claiming she had been thrown under the “gender bulls--- bus”.
And yet in the 72 hours since Turner was disqualified from a tournament for upholding the sanctity of female sport, she has still not received a word of solidarity from the US Fencing Association, her governing body. “Not an email, not a call, not a text,” she sighs.
The fact that she has been issued with a black card – the most serious punishment in fencing, normally reserved for egregious breaches of the sport’s code of honour – also leaves her facing a protracted and potentially unpleasant investigation.
“I may never get a fair bout in my life again,” she says. “It’s certainly going to be difficult for me to go to tournaments. People will know in advance that I’ll be there, because all our registrations are public. This isn’t going to blow over for me very easily. It’s not like I’m leaving the sport, I’ll be doing this for my whole life. It’s going to be hard for me.”
Turner’s motives in taking her memorable stand should not require forensic scrutiny. The instant she learnt that Redmond Sullivan, who participated in men’s fencing as recently as 2023, would be in her bracket for the Cherry Blossom Open at the University of Maryland, she decided she would kneel as a forfeit if the two were drawn against each other.
When the day came, she was true to her word, detonating global news coverage by telling the referee: “I’m sorry, I cannot do this. I am a woman, this is a man, and this is a women’s tournament. And I will not fence this individual.”
Sullivan’s path from a mediocre male career to eye-catching performances on the female stage has invited parallels with the case of Lia Thomas, the swimmer who was catapulted from obscurity in men’s races to winning a national collegiate title for women. In 2023, Sullivan was 29th in a men’s foil event, only to claim a state title in 2024 in the female category.
‘Facing a male, you’re in flight mode’
“I have been waking up angry every day because of this,” says Turner, highlighting the USFA’s dereliction of duty over women’s safety. Enabling immutable male advantage in any contact sport involving women is dangerous, but doubly so when you add swords to the mix.
“In sabre, there’s a definite risk of concussion, because there are shots to the head,” Turner explains. “In épée, it is a much heavier weapon, so you can get very bruised and bloodied if you are hit particularly hard by a man. In general it creates a psychological factor. If you’re on a strip facing a male opponent who is much larger than you, you go into flight mode, self-defence mode, where you’re not even thinking about technique or the bout. You’re just trying to survive.”
Despite the particular risks in fencing, the USFA’s transgender policy is extraordinarily lax and confused, declaring that “athletes will be permitted to participate in a manner consistent with gender identity or expression, regardless of the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth”.
A 12-month course of testosterone suppression is supposed to be mandatory at elite level, but no measurements are specified. “All you have to do is confirm you have lived as a woman for at least a year,” Turner says. “Nobody is checking any hormone levels, puberty blockers, or official documentation about being male or female. Grow your hair out, wear a wig, and you can automatically enter the women’s division.”
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The USFA has been in turmoil since Turner’s action, issuing only a vapid statement that it “respected the viewpoints on all sides”. This is patently absurd when you consider how it has publicly sided with Sullivan, while throwing a woman out of a tournament simply for defending her sex-based rights. “The people there shut down all discussion of this topic,” she says. “They just direct you to the policy and insist they’re in the right. But the policy isn’t pro-women or pro-girls in any way.”
It is understood that two USFA directors, Damien Lehfeldt and Molly Hill, have repeatedly acquiesced to pressure from the trans lobby. In 2023, Lehfeldt even went as far as drafting a manifesto – later deleted – for trans inclusion in fencing, despite conceding that women could be put at a physical disadvantage. “Giving athletes a sense of belonging and a will to live is more powerful than medals and competitive glory,” he wrote.
Turner initially resolved to avoid events where she might confront a transgender opponent, before realising that only direct intervention would work. She even asked a friend to record a video of the moment she knelt, for maximum impact. “I’ve found that just sending an email doesn’t create any movement on this issue. It only gets deleted. I wanted to cause a fuss. With a black card, an investigation is forced to happen. I wanted to show all the women at that tournament that they didn’t have to fence if they didn’t want to.”
‘Democrat friends lying to my face’
Many women in fencing are terrified of speaking out, for fear of jeopardising the scholarships to Ivy League universities to which the sport is traditionally linked. Turner, though, appears content to be the outlier. “I have a ‘buck stops here’ type of mentality. I’m done with this. I want my case to be the one that changes things, because I don’t want more women to feel they have to come out for a long battle. At my club, there are girls who are not even five-foot tall. In women’s fencing, they might have an opportunity. But when you start inundating their sport with men, they will have zero chance.”
Previously a registered Democrat, Turner was persuaded to vote Republican at the last presidential election, out of pure exasperation at the unfairness she has endured. “Sometimes, it feels like my Democrat friends are lying directly to my face,” she says. “I get angry, because of the personal effect this has on my life. I took up fencing because I needed something competitive in my life, where I could make friends, find a lifelong source of exercise. I found so much love chasing the next tournament, the next result. It’s addictive. But it becomes dreadful when the cards are stacked against you.”
