Female cyclist defends ‘taking a stand’ on women’s sports by refusing to take podium with trans winner

Veteran cyclist Julie Cutts Peterson told Fox News’ “America Reports” about why she refused to take the podium for the medal ceremony after losing to a trans competitor.

“At the finish line I was upset. I said ‘I did not want to race against a man,’” Peterson said, recalling her frustration at the event and the way the audience gasped at her comment. “In my mind I was like, ‘I can say that, I have freedom of speech.’ I was raised believing in the Bible where men are created by God and God created women from men, I was born and raised in America, where I learned my pronouns, and I took science classes that taught me about XX and XY and I believe that most Americans and people worldwide would support men not being in women’s categories.”

Peterson came in second place to transgender opponent, Kate “KJ” Phillips – born a biological male – who took the gold medal last Tuesday at the Lyons Masters National Championships in Wisconsin. She is one of multiple veteran female cyclists who are speaking out against USA Cycling after they claim the organization failed to disclose the participation of a transgender athlete in a recent race.

Peterson recalled the final sprint of the race where Debbie Milne was the only competitor ahead of her until “out of nowhere” came Phillips. 

“I knew at that sprint that that was a man’s sprint,” she said, noting her extensive experience riding among both men and women.

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Peterson went on to argue transgender ideology is not scientifically sound, declaring, “There is no amount of makeup, money, or marketing that can change that Y-chromosome, and that’s why we are taking a stand.”

The cyclist claimed further that the transgender competitor’s name was not even included on the registration list, “which means that we were not given the information that he would be racing in our category before the race started.”

“Apparently we’re hearing that from other athletes as well,” “America Reports” co-anchor Sandra Smith said, sharing a clip of Milne claiming that Phillips’ registration was completely hidden from competitors. 

“Catherine Phillips, KJ’s name, was not on that list. And I checked it up all the way to the point of closure when we couldn’t register online anymore,” Milne said last Thursday on “Fox & Friends.” According to Milne, neither she nor Peterson believe the omission of Phillips’ name was accidental, referring to the incident as “deception.” She said Peterson later got confirmation Phillips had been registered since mid-June, long before the online list closed. The cyclist added that, had she known, she might have reconsidered spending hundreds of dollars and traveling over 400 miles to compete. 

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Smith also noted that Fox News Digital had reached out to USA Cycling, who responded by providing their transgender eligibility policy.

Smith relayed that as she understood it, the policy as it stands is, “Quite simply it’s just providing a written and signed declaration to the cycling technical director that their gender identity is female.”

Peterson agreed, claiming she has a photo of how the registration appeared June 19th at 4:48 P.M., arguing that USA Cycling and Bike Reg had plenty of time to show the transgender competitor’s name there but decided not to, an increasingly growing pattern.

Fox News’ Madison Colombo contributed to this report.