The Darts Regulation Authority has banned transgender women from competing in its women’s events with immediate effect.<\/p>\n
The DRA, which governs the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), said “only biological females should be eligible to compete in women’s tournaments regulated by DRA Rules”.<\/p>\n
It comes after the DRA completed a review of its Trans and Gender Diverse Policy, which began in 2025.<\/p>\n
Noa-Lynn van Leuven, who in 2024 became the first transgender woman to compete in the PDC World Championship, said the decision had “effectively retired her”.<\/p>\n
She remains eligible to play in open tournaments for men and women.<\/p>\n
“I just got an email and apparently I just got retired, not by choice but because I am no longer allowed to compete,” Van Leuven said in a video posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n
“The DRA just decided that trans women are no longer allowed in women’s events which basically means I am out.<\/p>\n
“Everyday it is getting harder for trans people to exist, to compete. If you think this stops with me, it doesn’t. We just want to be.”<\/p>\n
Sex-based rights charity Sex Matters said “men’s physical advantages in darts may be small but they all add up”.<\/p>\n
“Darts is a male-dominated world, played in pubs and clubs, and the top darts players are all men. That’s why women need their own tournaments.<\/p>\n
“The Darts Regulation Authority followed the lead of the old, unfair IOC [International Olympic Committee] policy, so it’s great to see this rapid return to fairness for women players.”<\/p>\n
The DRA said it “seeks to be inclusive” and it encouraged “all players – irrespective of their biological sex, legal sex, and\/or gender identity” to continue competing in open tournaments.<\/p>\n
It said its decision is based on legal advice and a commissioned report by Dr Emma Hilton – an academic developmental biologist who has published several papers on sex and categories in sport.<\/p>\n
Dr Hilton’s report concluded “that multiple, small-magnitude sex differences accumulate to generate male advantage over females in darts”.<\/p>\n
Last year, the World Darts Federation (WDF) banned transgender women from competing in its women’s tournaments.<\/p>\n