USA Fencing is just the latest example of left-wing Progressive ideologues pretending to retreat after they were exposed for their hypocrisy.
Stephanie Turner, a USA Fencing competitor, was disqualified after she refused to participate in a match against a biological man. The biological man had, just the year before, been on the men’s team. Instead of participating in the competition, Turner kneeled, and was immediately disqualified from the tournament.
In response to the outrage, USA Fencing said it is preparing to change its policies, but only if it’s forced to.
According to Fox News, USA Fencing made an announcement, stating, “In the event that USA Fencing is forced to change its current stance in accordance with oversight bodies or federal legislation, the new policy states athletes competing in USA Fencing-sanctioned tournaments must compete according to their biological sex.”
Similarly, the USA Fencing website reads:
“Revised Policy (Not Yet Implemented): On April 15, 2025, the USA Fencing Board of Directors proactively adopted a revised Transgender and Non-Binary Athlete Eligibility Policy. This policy is not currently in effect but will take effect only if explicitly required by oversight organizations (such as the USOPC, IOC, FIE, IPC) or mandated by U.S. federal law. Until and unless such guidance is issued, the current policy remains in force.”
Until then, USA Fencing is going to still allow biological men to compete against biological women.
This means USA Fencing gets the perceived benefits of being seen as backing down, while not changing anything. And it does not seem like things are going to change.
USA Fencing Chair Damien Lehfeldt was just grilled by the DOGE Subcommittee’s “Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” hearing.
In the past, Lehfeldt allegedly explicitly said, “Yeah,” in response to being asked, “Are you okay with cis females being at a disadvantage?”
In another post, he compared people concerned about women’s safety to the KKK.
USA Fencing told Fox News, “Mr. Lehfeldt’s pre-hearing social posts were made in a personal capacity. Before and during the hearing, he clarified that the comments do not reflect USA Fencing policy and expressed regret for any confusion they caused.”
However, in another statement to Fox News, in response to Turner’s calls for leadership change, USA Fencing said, “We respect Ms. Turner’s right to share her views. The volunteer members of USA Fencing’s Board, elected by our membership, remain focused on serving athletes and meeting our obligations under the Ted Stevens Act and other governing-body rules. No leadership changes are under consideration.”
This means that while USA Fencing is allegedly condemning its chair’s words, they are not going to actually do anything about it… until they’re forced to.
If you believe that USA Fencing should be focused on sports, instead of divisive “inclusive” gender politics, then you should use our action alert to send a message to the leaders of USA Fencing. Instead of waiting for a new rule to be imposed from above, they should make sports safe for women now.
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That policy is outrageous and the head–and Board members–of the Fencing Association should, at the very least, be fired…or, better yet, imprisoned. How can ANYONE believe a “man” playing or fencing against a female is fair and appropriate (unless the “honcho” is himself a transgender!!!