Women’s Fence Stephanie Turner became a household name overnight among activists for women’s rights in sports.

A viral video of Turner kneeling to protest a transsexual opponent ignited more debate about transgender inclusion in women’s sports, especially fences.

“It will probably at least for the moment ruin my life,” Turner told Pakinomist Digital. “It’s very hard for me to do this.”

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Her decision was driven by her resistance to compete against biological men.

“This is a serious problem that happens in all sports and it needs to be solved. There is a difference between men and women,” Turner said. “It is a civil rights movement for women and girls, and I prioritize the safety and rights and protection of women and girls over trans-identified men.”

Her faith even overpowered her lifelong political allegiance.

Turner, a long -term registered Democrat who broke from the party to the recent election, says she is now a “new Republican Conservative.”

She changed parties over the question of transient athletes in women’s and girls sports.

“A small group of people have a much larger athlete base hostage to extremist liberal views,” Turner said.

How did it come to this point?

She comes from a liberal background

Turner was born and raised in Washington DC and now lives in Deep Blue Montgomery County, Maryland.

Over the years, she has been involved in a close friend group that includes other fences. It also includes several members of the LHBT community.

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“They didn’t know that I had this opinion of transnring women in women’s sports. And one of them was one of my really good friends at [fencing] club. He is in the LHBT community and many of my friends are also in the LHBT community. And I don’t want them to be angry with me for this. I love them on a personal level.

“I don’t want them to think that I somehow hate them. And I don’t want to lose them as friends.”

But Turner also feels that she cannot have legitimate discussions with some people about the question.

“They are lying and saying that estrogen can make a man a woman also to the point where you can’t see the difference, and it just becomes a crazy argument.”

She began fences at college and gradually avoided trans -competitors

Turner, 31, dared in competitive fences 12 years ago at the age of 19. She joined the club at the University of Maryland and has stuck with it ever since. She later qualified to compete in the United States fence.

“I commit a lot of time and money to this,” Turner said, quoting travel, equipment and registration expenses.

Turner’s official fence Tracker page shows 21 podium finishes, including a gold medal in women’s foil at an event called The Trick or Retreat Roc 18 August in Edison, New Jersey.

But she came to a point in her career as she had to pay attention to the US fence official gender eligibility policy.

The official policy allows transgenders to compete in the women’s category at both junior and senior levels after completing a calendar year with testosterone oppression treatment. Proof of compatible hormone therapy must be provided before competition.

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USA hencing has a policy announced in November 2022 to give preference when choosing host cities for national tournaments to states without laws that “damage members of LGBTQ society” and say “not” has laws undermined women’s reproductive health. “

“In fences, personally, I see it quite often,” Turner said. “I have witnessed cross-cut fences in women’s tournaments and girls tournaments in different age categories, specifically the Y-14 (the youngest age group).”

Turner had a previous experience of avoiding a trans opponent in the summer of 2013. She saw reports of a trans athlete she had previously known as a biological male fence by another name. When Turner saw that the athlete was performed as a competitor in that year’s summer citizens, she decided not to go.

“I’ve never registered because I knew he would be in there,” Turner said. “In earlier years, when I had known that trans -fun fences were present, I just didn’t record myself.”

She ended up facing a trans athlete last weekend and decided to do something else

Turner always made sure to avoid signing up for events after vetting them for trans athletes.

But what she couldn’t foresee was one of those who registered after she did.

It happened for the first time last weekend for a division IA event called Cherry Blossom open at her Alma Mater, University of Maryland. Redmond Sullivan, who previously competed in the men’s Division, according to Fencing Tracker, was registered and placed in the same bracket as Turner.

She only learned this at. 22.30 the night before her matchup with Sullivan.

At that time, she was considering another approach to dealing with the situation considering how frequent trans -cluttering was about to become.

“I had considered in the future that I wanted to avoid not signing up for events just because a transgender person was there because it could just be every one of my events, has a transgender,” Turner said.

“So I was like, ‘You know what, I just want to give it to God. If this person shows up in my event and they are on my strip, I will take a knee and it would be God’s will.”

But Turner would take things a step further, a step she knew could “ruin her life”, but she did it anyway.

Just minutes before she took the strip to kneel against Sullivan, she went to one of her closest friends at the club for an advantage.

“I said, ‘I’m about to do something and I want you to film it. I’m really nervous about it and this is your last chance to leave if you want,’ because I didn’t know what the reaction would be,” Turner said.

Her friend agreed to film Kneel and recorded a scene that would witness on the fence world.

Turner was then treated a black card, disqualified from the event and escorted so quickly that she was not able to say another word to her teammates, teachers or anyone else.

Turners Kneel has ignited global conversations and even a commercial

Turner would not have this role. She admits to being a private person without social media channels who “enjoys anonymity.”

“I hoped that someone else would come out or the board would have a heart change,” Turner said.

A nonprofit fence organization wrote an open letter to US Fence Council members in December and called on the national governing body of the sport to reassess its attitude towards several questions, including transgender integration.

“Politics aside, it’s a reasonable request to form a task force to make a deeper dive on this question in fence and create a safe space where the voices of all women are heard without ridicule and abuse,” the letter said.

But nothing was done.

Turner is the latest conflicting in the ongoing cultural war on the issue of trans athletes in women’s sports. She has conducted a TV interview on the Pakinomist Channel, her story has been covered by several media, and she is even in an advertisement.

Sports activist brand XX-XY Athletics released its new commercial with the clip of Turners Kneel on Thursday.

For her, it’s all worth it if it means keeping institutions such as US fences and politicians who have continued to enable Trans -Including responsible.

“It’s a lacquer test for common sense in whether a politician is able to lie to your face to adhere to the common culture,” Turner said.

“Something needs to be done.”

USA fence made a statement to Pakinomist Digital that addresses the incident.

“The United States fence adopted our current transking and non -binary athlete policy in 2023. The policy was designed to expand access to fence sports and create inclusive, secure space. The policy is based on the principle that everyone should have the ability to participate in sports and was based on the available research,” the statement states.

“We respect the views on all sides and encourage our members to continue sharing them with us as the case develops. It is important for the fence community to participate in this dialogue, but we expect this conversation to be respectfully conducted, whether in our tournaments or in online space. The way to progress is by respectful discussion -based evidence.”

A spokesman for hencing to the United States also told Pakinomist Digital Turner was not punished for her attitude against trans -cluttering, but merely for refusing to fence.

“In the case of Stephanie Turner, her disqualification was not related to any personal statement, but was merely the direct result of her decision to refuse to fence a qualified opponent that the FIE rules clearly ban,” the spokesman said.

“According to FIE (International Hencing Federation) Technical rules, specifically Article T.113, a fence is not allowed to refuse to fence another properly entered into fence for some reason or another. According to these rules, such a rejection of disqualification and the corresponding sanctions results. This policy exists to maintain fair competition standards and preserve the sport’s integrity.”