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The World Darts Federation found earlier this week that female competitions will not allow organic men who are transgender women.
A Dart Trans thrower spoke out against the decision in a long Instagram publication, calling it “loss for the trans community in sport”.
“Last Monday, the WDF (World Darts Federation) has published a new policy concerning gender eligibility. I want to take a moment to answer. This decision is personally affecting me – however, fortunately, not too severely at this stage.
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Noa-Lynn Van Leuven, of the Netherlands, launches Mikuru Suzuki in Japan in the women’s female finals Betfred World 2024 at Winter Gardens on July 21, 2024, in Blackpool, England. (Ben Roberts Photo / Getty Images)
“Once again, it is a loss for the trans community in sport. And that breaks my heart. As a trans person in the world of darts, I know how vital inclusion – not only on paper, but in practice.”
Van Leuven added that “equity” is at the expense of “exclusion”.
“It is discouraging to see another policy supervised around” equity “which ultimately leads to exclusion, without really considering people behind the labels. My heart goes to all the athletes affected by this. We remain visible. We continue,” wrote Van Leuven.
Noa-Lynn Van Leuven, Dutchman, celebrates the victory of the first set before losing his round match a tour against Kevin Doets of Hollande on the third day of the Paddy Power Pdc World Darts Championship 2024/2025 in Alexandra Palace on December 17, 2024, in London. (Tom Jenkins / Getty Images)
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Van Leuven reached the semi-finals of the WDF Dutch Open twice in 2023 and 2024, but has since moved to the Professional Darts Championship circuit. Van Leuven won six female PDC titles.
Two of the former Dutch teammates of Van Leuven resigned to Van Leuven joining the PDC. Last year, the British dart player Deta Hedman refused to play Van Leuven during a WDF event.
Van Leuven also participated in open events, featuring organic men and women.
Noa-Lynn Van Leuven in a first round match against Kevin Doets on the third day of the Paddy Power World Darts championship in Alexandra Palace, London, December 17, 2024. (Images Steven Paston / PA via Getty Images)
The director of the PDC, Matt Porter, said in November that he thought that the organization’s policy on Trans launchers was “fair” and did not intend to modify the rules despite the decision of the British Supreme Court to define the terms “man”, “woman” and “sex”.
