Three men have refused to apologize for sneaking into a town parade and mocking transgender athletes while dressed as “Olympic female athletes.” The fair organizers, however, have pledged to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
In the Great Torrington May Fair — held on May 5 in the town of Great Torrington, England (about 220 miles west of London) — 75-year-old Maurice Cockwill, his son Carlton Cockwill, and their friend Paul Hutchings wore sports bras and swimming trunks to march alongside other cisgender women dressed in similar outfits.
According to parade organizers, the group drove their unregistered float into the parade’s tail end, initially covering its signs. When they unveiled the signs, they read “Olympic 2024 woman 100m final” and “Of course we’re women, we sit down to pee.”
Three cis men, dressed in sports bras, speedos and wigs, joined a carnival in Devon calling themselves the 'Olympic 2024 female athletic team'.
Carnival apologised.
Absolute state of these people.
[Mail]https://t.co/P1pBnDeVUV pic.twitter.com/A9s89xfPi5
— Lee Hurley (@WeeMelter) July 15, 2022
The signs referenced swimmer Lia Thomas, whose history-making national championship finish led the international swimming sports body FINA to ban trans athletes from competing in women’s competitions.
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The signs offended at least one trans woman in attendance, trans comedian Donna Landy. Landy told The Daily Mail that the float was evidence of “bare naked transphobia.” She filed a complaint about it with the fair’s organizing committee.
“When I caught up with the float and read the sign my heart sank,” Landy said. “It was clearly mocking trans athletes in sport and by extension all trans people, really.”
After seeing the sign, she worried that she might be ridiculed or attacked at the parade.
“I was shocked, angry, sad – and afraid. I started to wonder, what if people noticed I was trans and started mocking me, or worse?” she added. “Perhaps it sounds far-fetched but I have trans friends who have been ridiculed in public and physically assaulted just for being trans, so who’s to say it couldn’t happen here?”
The fair’s organizers called the float “inappropriate.” They said that the float’s creators hadn’t registered their display to join the parade, adding that it would’ve been rejected.
In a statement, the organizing committee said, “Overall, the committee are disappointed this has happened and in no way whatsoever promote or encourage an attitude of hate… The committee are very sorry for how this has made people feel and very much hopes that all concerned are assured of our best intentions.”
The committee said that next year the event will have more stewards on the fairgrounds and improved training to prevent any offensive entries from joining. The committee also said that a local government representative will talk to one of the float’s creators to inform them of its inappropriateness.
Meanwhile, Maurice Cockwill has refused to apologize.
‘The committee has apologized but we won’t be. We’ve done nothing to apologize for,” he told the aforementioned publication. “We were certainly not intending to take the mickey out of transgender people. We were just trying to make a point about this issue in sport and have a bit of a laugh. And the crowd seemed to enjoy it.”
The man is a former sports coach who said he disagreed with the “possibility of people born biologically as men competing as women.” He also denied sneaking into the parade, adding that his float only covered its signs as a way to surprise the crowd.
“I don’t know what’s happening to the country,” he said. “Is all humor dead or what?”
Trans people and allies may not find such “humor” funny seeing as trans people are being banned from competitive sports around the world.
In June, the International Rugby League announced a temporary ban on trans women from women’s matches as it conducts research and finalizes its inclusion policy. Shortly before the IRL’s announcement, FIFA and World Athletics — the international governing body for track and field events — and FINA all announced bans on transgender athletes from women’s events. British Triathlon has also announced its plans to make trans women compete against cis men.
In the United States, Republicans nationwide have authored bills that would ban transgender females from competing on girls’ and women’s teams. As of late May, 18 states have enacted laws or issued statewide rules limiting trans sports participation, The New York Times reported.
Supporters of such laws say that they protect women’s sports from being dominated by trans female athletes who have superior strength due to male hormones that change the body during puberty.
Critics of such laws point out that very few transgender athletes are actually competing in women’s sports. They all say that such bans effectively ban trans youth from playing sports altogether since they don’t want to play sports with members of the opposite gender and be targeted for bullying, adding to a stigmatizing political atmosphere that can harm trans people’s mental health and increase their suicidal ideation.
