Councillor for Oxford City, Emily Kerr, and Councillor for Lambridge, Bath and Northeast Somerset, Saskia Heijltjes, have announced that they have asked for their names and faces to be removed from Cycling UK’s publicity.
On BlueSky, Councillor Heijltjes said, “Like many others, I am disappointed and angry about the decision by Cycling UK to change the eligibility criteria for Women in Cycling 2025 to exclude trans women.
“Trans women are women🏳️⚧️”
I am a little late to this, but I have also requested my name and face to be removed from @cyclinguk.bsky.social publicity due to the decision to remove trans women from their awards. Trans women are women, gender is on a spectrum (and I did a genetics degree), and cycling is for everyone. 🏳️⚧️🚲❤️
— Cllr Emily Kerr 💚 (@emilykerr36.bsky.social) 7 November 2025 at 13:42
The announcement has led to several women who were nominated or selected for the award to publicly declined or withdrawn their names in protest of this decision.
Other members of Cycling UK have admitted to cancelling their memberships.
Fredfelt.bsky.social commented on Cllr Kerr’s post: “I’ve just cancelled my membership. I understand that the reason may have been based in their seeking to comply with a dubious ruling, but I’d expect better from this organisation.”
Cllr Kerr responded: “So my honest guess is the legal advice is probably sound, cos that’s what the Supreme Court ruled.
“However, I would have liked to see more imagination in response: cancelling the awards for 2025 or delaying them and coming up with a different format to stay inclusive.
100 Women in Cycling (Cycling UK) (credit: road.cc)
Cycling UK said they “received legal advice that very clearly says that for our awards to comply with the law,” transgender or non-binary cyclists could not be included in the 2025.
The Supreme Court ruling, delivered earlier this year, found that the word ‘sex’, in the Equality Act refers to ‘biological’ sex only.