"Trans people, in general, are a culture-war lightning rod" - Austin Killips unsure how to navigate hate swarm following Tour of the Gila

Women's cycling is currently on a crucial block of racing, just off the spring classics and into the Grand Tours. However, despite many of the biggest stars' participation at the Vuelta Femenina, the most googled athlete this week was Austin Killips, who found herself in the middle of a storm after winning the Tour of the Gila.

“Maybe this is the first Tour of the Gila that a trans woman has won, but we've been out here for a while. There is this idea of being the first ones to do things, but it's also like, there are not that many of us, so when the stars align, or we accomplish something notable, the previous ones fall off the collective consciousness," Killips said in an extensive interview with Cyclingnews. "It isn't unprecedented, we've kind of been around for a while, and there have been a lot of people who have paved the way for what I am doing.”

Having transitioned earlier in her life, Killips - after years of undergoing the necessary medical procedures and complying with the regulations in place - has begun competing in the female peloton. In some races, such as in some cyclocross competitions, trans athletes had their own category, but that was not the case on the road with the recent Tour of the Gila.

The American 2.2 race saw Killips ride to victory, but that was the start of a debate which increasingly grows within North America. "If you ride your bike six or seven hours a day for five weeks, you are going to get fast. I'm grateful that my body is able to do that," she continues. "I'm lucky and privileged to be able to train at the level that I train at, and I think there is a clear input and output there that makes sense."

Following her success in the Tour of the Gila, having won the overall and KOM classifications, she had her social media accounts put to private, and the race organizers themselves have on occasions limited replies on Twitter when posting regarding the race. This was because throughout the week the amount of negative comments on Killips' victory emerged, with a very mixed variety of comments ranging from preventing her from competing to direct transphobia.

In the USA currently, this topic has become mainstream with many news outlets and political figures advocating for severe restrictions on the rights of the trans population. Killips victory collided with this current trend. “I don't necessarily know how to navigate this conversation. Right now, at this moment in time, it feels that trans people, in general, are a culture-war lightning rod," the American states.

"I don't want to be overly cynical, but I think that trans people in sports, we've seen what has happened politically, they are trying to find a wedge issue, and then immediately it spirals into trying to legislate trans people out of existence. We are seeing bans on [gender-affirming] healthcare for kids and making it almost impossible for adults to access it."

“In some ways, things are worse than they were 10 years ago, we are a real political target for a scary political movement. It's a unique moment in history where there is a category of people that are being very specifically targeted in a unique way," Killips continued. "That's not where the right-wing social conservative conversation was 10 years ago, they just didn't shine a spotlight on us as the thing to hyper-fixate on. They are working toward an end, with an outcome in mind and a vision of the world, I don't think they are budging, they are engaged in a power struggle and willing to have blood on their hands and casualties from the fear and hate-mongering that they churn up.”

The ICFS has this week also called the UCI to intervene in the situation, in an open letter stating that Killips' presence in the Tour of the Gila "destroys the integrity of the female category", and repeatedly calling her a male athlete. The UCI is currently undergoing more investigation and looking into possible changes when it comes to regulations for trans athletes, in an ever-evolving work towards fairness for all athletes.

“I've been well within the threshold, being on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), to compete by the IOC/UCI standards," the 27-year old confirms however. "Being on HRT is imperative, and my performance continues to track within that bandwidth of elite women's performance. I know that my body doesn't produce any testosterone, but there is a concern about the weaponization of these metrics against other people,”