Maggie Adams

ALT New Zealand transgender athletes can join community sport as self-determined gender Sport New Zealand said it was essential that community sport leaders were committed to inclusion. PHOTO: REUTERS UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO FacebookTwitter AUCKLAND –Transgender athletes will be able to participate in community sport in New Zealand in the gender they identify with and not need to prove or justify their identity, according to guiding principles released by Sport New Zealand (SNZ) on Tuesday. The guidelines do not apply to elite sport and it will be up to individual sports to define where and how transgender athletes participate, the governing body said. “An inclusive transgender policy allows individuals to take part as their self-determined gender and not as the sex they were assigned at birth,” SNZ said. “It does not ask people to prove or otherwise justify their gender, sex or gender identity.”