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Exclusive: It’s been more than two months since the female fencer Stephanie Turner He went viral after being punished by American Fencing to kneel in protest against his trans opponent.
And after nine weeks of immeasurable public and federal scrutiny of US fencing in the aftermath of the incident, Organizational modification Two of the most controversial policies last weekend.
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The organization’s board of directors has changed its rules to a priority state with a law deemed “harmful” to the LGBTQ population and rules that do not guarantee that the national anthem will be held before all events.
Turner responded to USA Fencing’s recent policy changes in its exclusive statement to Fox News Digital.
“US fencing is in the hands of unpatriotic tyrants who place vague politics before promoting sports across the country. It should have never been a question of whether they would play the national anthem.
“I think these policies have been introduced to punish conservatives and the Red States. We need to have the leadership of USAFENCING and innovation in auditing social media and online platforms.”
Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) (c) speaks to fencer Stephanie Turner (L), who refused to compete with transgender athletes, and Payton McNabb (R), a former North Carolina High School volleyball player who was injured by his transgender opponent. Capitol Building in Washington, DC, May 7, 2025 (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Turner left the competition in US fencing after receiving 12 months of probation for refusing to play trans-athlete Redmond Sullivan at the Maryland Cherry Blossom Open in late March.
But there was in the controversial fallout Impact on the organization And that policy is immediately.
USA Fencing announced that it is preparing to change its gender eligibility policy in late April. The proposed updated policy ensures that the female category is “open to female sex athletes only.” The male category is “open to all other athletes who otherwise qualify for competition.”
However, that new policy has not been officially introduced.
The incident involving Turner also prompted an investigation into Title IX from President Donald Trump’s administration and the May Congress hearing.
USA Fencing Chair Damien Lefeld was grilled by Republican lawmakers Government Efficiency Bureau (Doge) May 7th Subcommittee’s “Unfair Play: Protecting Men from Women’s Sports” hearing.
After the hearing, Turner told Fox News Digital that she and her platform will focus on pushing her resignation between US Fencing’s key leadership figures.
“To be honest, I am going to push people to resign, especially those resigning from public comments.
The organization’s policy of prioritizing states in PRO-LGBTQ law was a point of specific scrutiny by Chairman Marjorie Taylor Greene, DOGE Subcommittee Chairman, during the R-GA hearing.
“When selecting sites for fencing events across the country, the board’s policy is to avoid states that LGBTQ rights and abortion laws and policies oppose them. We use the ‘equality map’ to determine which states are blacklisted from competitors and which states we support,” Green said. “This will support a lot of blue states and hurt a lot of red states. So it will produce politically determined winners and losers, but it has nothing to do with fencing.”
Previous Host Site Policy placed many states on the “Do not allow” list.
State included in the “Avoid if possible” list include Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Missippi, Texas, Dakota and West Virginia.
The organization now claims there will be events in some of these states next year.
“We have consolidated several duplicate documents into one policy, which has earned all the bids on state costs, safety and travel convenience. Using this rubric, we will reach nine states for next season’s national events, including Texas, Missouri, Florida, Utah, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and Nevada.
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USA Fencing is also providing a statement to Fox News Digital, which addresses the new national anthem policy.
“It’s in the national anthem everytime It was held at the start of all national tournaments. The board only wrote about years of practice in policy and added that it will also be revived in US holidays that occur during events, such as Independence Day, which will occur during the Nationals in the coming summer,” the statement read.
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