Gary Lineker defends ‘persecuted’ trans people amid rising number of sports bans

TV pundit Gary Lineker has described trans people as “some of the most persecuted on the planet”.

The former England striker, who is set to leave his hosting job on Match of the Day next week, made the comment during an interview with The Telegraph, where he also touched on the controversy he is facing after resharing a pro-Palestine post which featured a rat emoji – a symbol historically used as an antisemitic slur. He quickly deleted it.

The Telegraph’s chief sports writer Oliver Brown asked Lineker, capped 80 times by England, for his views on trans rights in the wake of the banning of transgender women from female competitions by several sporting bodies – including the Football Association (FA), Scottish FA and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The bans followed the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act, and interim guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which called for access to single-sex spaces to be based on biology.

Unlike some of his other views, which he shares online, Lineker felt the topic of trans inclusion was “too nuanced” for a social media post. “I don’t think, in terms of sport, that it will ever be a real issue,” he said. “Sport, as it’s already doing, will sort it out and work out rules, like they did in boxing, when they realised they couldn’t have heavyweights against little fellas.”

He then said trans people were “some of the most persecuted on the planet”, before adding: “You’ve got to be very careful not to have bigoted views on that. I genuinely feel really badly for trans people. Imagine going through what they have to go through in life. Is there even any issue?”

Seemingly referring to Lia Thomas, Laurel Hubbard and Imane Khelif, Lineker, who scored 461 goals in 238 first-team appearances in England, Spain and Japan, went on to say: “It’s the same swimmer, the same weightlifter, the same boxer. They’re the only people I ever see.

“We’ve got the Women’s Euros [football competition] in the summer, let’s see if there’s one issue. I don’t think there is. Are you telling me that there are many people who pretend to be women just so they’re going to be good at sport?

“It’s so complex, I see both sides to a degree.”

The FA ban is set to come into force ahead of next season, right at the start of Pride month.

Football’s governing body for the game in England, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man previously updated its inclusion policy to allow trans women to play if their testosterone levels were decreased. However, that policy was immediately changed after the FA received legal advice, in the face of the Supreme Court judgement.

At the time, an FA spokesperson said: “This is a complex subject and our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science, or the operation of the policy in grassroots football, then we would review it and change it if necessary.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling on the 16 April means that we will be changing our policy. Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women’s football in England, and this policy will be implemented from 1 June.

“We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify, and we are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game.”

Grassroots football clubs publicly condemned the court’s verdict and labelled the FA’s decision “shameful”.

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