A college in the U.S. has now confirmed that Redmond Sullivan, a transgender fencer who recently got caught up in a viral controversy, isn’t on their women’s fencing team anymore.
Sullivan ended up in the news after something that happened at a tournament — basically, one of her opponents refused to compete against her and got disqualified over it.
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Sullivan had been on the Wagner College women’s team, but now she’s dropped.
The controversy started during a Maryland tournament
This whole thing kicked off at the Cherry Blossom Open, a fencing tournament in Maryland. Sullivan was there, repping Wagner’s women’s team.
That’s when one of her opponents decided not to fence her because Sullivan is a transgender woman.
At the Maryland fencing competition last month, Sullivan’s opponent, Stephanie Turner, took a knee and refused to compete against her opponent, telling her, “I am sorry. I have a lot of love and respect for you, but I will not fence you.”
A female fencer’s protest made national headlines
“When I took the knee, I looked at the ref and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I cannot do this. I am a woman, and this is a man, and this is a women’s tournament. And I will not fence this individual,’” Turner said in an interview with Fox News.
Turner faced immediate consequences for her refusal
Turner didn’t just get a warning or anything — she got disqualified on the spot. They handed her a black card, which meant she was out of the competition completely.
USA Fencing later put out a statement saying her disqualification wasn’t about her views or anything personal. It was just because she wouldn’t fence someone who was considered eligible, which breaks the rules set by the International Fencing Federation.
Wagner College confirms Sullivan is off the team
So people started wondering — what’s happening with Sullivan? A spokesperson from Wagner, Jim Chiavelli, made it pretty clear: “We are in full compliance with NCAA and NEC rules and regulations. The fencer is not a member of our fencing team.”
He also added that Sullivan isn’t doing interviews with the media right now.
The reason for Sullivan’s removal remains unclear
There’s still a lot of confusion about how this all went down. It’s not yet confirmed if Sullivan left the team on her own or if the school removed her.
NCAA changed its policy on transgender athletes
This whole situation came just days after the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) put out a new rule. As of February 2, the association now says that only student-athletes who were assigned female at birth can compete in women’s sports.
That’s the rule now — if you weren’t born female, you can’t play on women’s teams anymore.
The change followed pressure from the federal government
This policy change didn’t just happen out of the blue. The U.S. Department of Education had already announced they were going to investigate some schools for possibly violating Title IX, which is supposed to protect people from discrimination in education.
According to the Department of Education, Title IX protects people from discrimination based on s*x in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.
Turner was rewarded for her stance by a conservative brand
After Turner made her stand at the tournament, she got noticed by XX-XY Athletics — a brand that calls itself “the only athletic brand that stands up for women’s sports.” They’re known for being openly anti-trans.
The company, started by Jennifer Sey, gave Turner a $5,000 prize, a Courage Wins Award, and even brought her into a leadership program.
Online reactions were deeply divided
The internet had a lot to say after this whole thing blew up. Some folks backed Turner, but a bunch of others thought she was way out of line.
One person online said, “Why does it matter? They use swords, not hand-to-hand.”
Another commenter thought USA Fencing did the right thing: “Good. She should’ve fought her opponent and gave herself a chance to win. If she lost, then she could contest the loss. You can’t just refuse because you don’t like your opponent.”
A third person didn’t hold back: “Sounds like she got what she asked for. Fencing is not a sport that should be gender specific. This woman was clearly just a bigot and afraid of losing. Like refusing to play Chess with a trans person. There was zero advantage just bigotry at play here.”
Someone else who actually fenced before jumped in too, saying, “As someone who has actually fenced, gender does not matter here. My fencing partners were always male, and I never felt they had an advantage. Even if they were larger.”
Texas officials stepped in after the disqualification
After all that, the Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, jumped in and started looking into USA Fencing. Even though the event happened in Maryland, he launched an investigation, saying Turner might’ve been treated unfairly under Texas law.
Paxton defended Turner, saying she had “bravely” taken a knee “instead of competing against a biological male.”