It seems that while we are making incredible gains in the march to end the chokehold transgender ideology has on our country, we are still very much in the middle of the fight.
Over the weekend, women’s fencer Stephanie Turner took a stand against a male fencer competing against other females in the Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland. Turner, who typically won’t sign up for an event if she knows a male competes in the women’s category, was surprised to find out Redmond Sullivan had also entered after her.
Sullivan is a so-called trans athlete — a man who self-identifies as a woman. USA Fencing insists on allowing men to compete against women in their events. As fate would have it, Sullivan and Turner were put into the same pool. But Turner had a plan.
WATCH: Women SHRED Men Competing in Their Sports
President Trump signed an executive order to PROTECT ALL WOMEN and end the war on female athletics!
Their stories will leave you speechless. pic.twitter.com/lED49SlVgG
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 8, 2025
A viral video shows Turner taking her mask off and getting a knee in front of Sullivan, signaling her refusal to continue the contest. This wasn’t an accident. Turner decided the night before the event that she wanted the world to see her taking a knee and accept the loss.
“I saw that I was going to be in a pool with Redmond, and from there, I said, ‘OK, let’s do it. I’m going to take the knee,” Turner told Fox News Digital.
I knew what I had to do because USA Fencing had not been listening to women’s objections regarding [its gender eligibility policy],” Turner said, according to the outlet. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)
“I took a knee immediately at that point. Redmond was under the impression that I was going to start fencing. So when I took the knee, I looked at the ref and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I cannot do this. I am a woman, and this is a man, and this is a women’s tournament. And I will not fence this individual,'” she continued.
“Redmond didn’t hear me, and he comes up to me, and he thinks that I may be hurt, or he doesn’t understand what’s happening. He asks, ‘Are you OK?’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry. I have much love and respect for you, but I will not fence you,'” Turner explained.
Sullivan warned Turner that if she refused to compete against him, his friends on the board would ensure she got punished well beyond just taking a loss. He was right. USA Fencing gave Turner a black card for her protest, the highest disciplinary action that can be taken against a fencer outside of a ban.
.@realDonaldTrump‘s executive order to protect women’s sports was signed on February 5.
But boys are still competing — and winning — in women’s sports.
We’ve got work to do. pic.twitter.com/YZbQFU33Yq
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) April 2, 2025
“It will probably, at least for a moment, destroy my life. I don’t think that it’s going to be easy for me from now on going to fencing tournaments. I don’t think it’s going to be easy for me at practice,” Turner said. “It’s very hard for me to do this.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order protecting women and girls from having to compete against male athletes. Still, as Turner puts it, “there are activists who have embedded themselves in authoritative positions in sports bodies,” like USA Fencing, who still are putting transgender ideology above reality.
3/14
There are 9 peer reviewed scholarly papers by different groups of scholars that have evaluated the existing research and concluded that transwomen retain male athletic advantages. These scholars include @Scienceofsport @runthinkwrite @DrMJoyner @jwsenefeld pic.twitter.com/1ylMVvR0xD
— Greg (@BrowngaGreg) May 27, 2024
It’s not just authorities in sports who are ignoring female safety. The legacy media is complicit. The Washington Post did a profile on high school “trans” athlete Eliza Munshi, dealing with the effects of Trump’s ban on males competing in female sports. Munshi initially wanted to play on the girls’ track team, but after his paperwork was flagged for being a male athlete, he chose to enter competitions with the boys’ side. The outlet claims that boys like Munshi have become “political target[s] for conservative leaders.” (ROOKE: Republicans Sabotaged By Their Own Feminist Infiltrators, Again)
But it’s not just conservatives who see the problem with allowing males to compete against females. It has become what politicos call an 80/20 issue. Where about 80 percent of the country wants to ban men in women’s sports. This goes across political, racial, and economic lines. The Washington Post and other left-wing media outlets want Americans to sympathize with athletes like Munshi.
“Eliza couldn’t help but think that if more people saw trans girls like her, they might think differently,” the outlet wrote, making sure to use female pronouns despite Munshi being born a male.
While that framing might work on some, the reality is that you cannot change your gender. Munshi will always be a boy. It doesn’t matter how many hormones, surgeries, or dresses he puts on because his DNA will say XY until the day he dies.
I feel bad for kids like Munshi, who have been sold a dangerous lie. It’s more than just female athletes who are harmed by gender ideology. So-called “gender-affirming care” turns these children into medical patients for the rest of their lives. It also warps their brains into believing that their biological identity, the part of them that makes them who they are, is wrong.
Turner was never a Republican in the past. In fact, she told Fox that she had consistently voted Democrat until the rise of the transgender athlete. It was this insanity and Trump’s promise to end it that made her vote Republican down the ticket last November. She took a stand against this insanity and will have to endure its repercussions.
BREAKING: President Donald J. Trump signs an executive order keeping men OUT of women’s sports.
Promises made, promises kept. pic.twitter.com/rDfC2qmiu4
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 5, 2025
This is just another reminder that while our country has made incredible strides in fighting back against the transgender movement if women are still being forced to kneel in competition to stand up for what’s right, we have a long way to go.
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