It was “God’s will”: Cash Prize Awarded to Anti-Trans Fencer For Forfeiting

“It will destroy my life,” said the athlete, who’s anti-trans discrimination earned her $5,000 from a rightwing group.

Photo by Eugene Lim on Unsplash

When 31-year-old Stephanie Turner read an article claiming that her would-be fencing opponent, 20-year-old college student Redmond Sullivan, was trans, she said it was “God’s will” for her to take a knee in protest, record the interaction, and spread the video far and wide—earning Turner an award for “courage” and a hefty $5,000 check from an anti-trans group with extremist ties.

"It will probably, at least for the moment, destroy my life," Turner told Fox News during a now-viral interview, adding that she has many friends in the LGBT community. "It's very hard for me to do this."

Turner, a Montgomery County resident who described herself as a lifelong Democrat until the 2024 election, said she routinely vets her opponents ahead of competitions to try to make sure none of them are transgender. Turner had never met Sullivan, and Sullivan has never publicly commented on her gender identity. However, Turner read an article from Reduxx—a far-right “news” site that the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as “nothing but rabid transphobia”—claiming that Sullivan is trans.

The video shows Turner taking her position on the fencing strip—blade ready, uniform on—only for her to toss her mask aside and take a knee. Sullivan approached her, thinking she might be injured, and asked if Turner was okay.

“No,” Turner recalls telling Sullivan. “I am refusing to fence you, because I am a woman and you are a man.”

The video of Turner and Sullivan went viral after it was posted to Twitter on April 2 by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), a far-right organization which aligns itself with known hate groups such as the Alliance Defending Freedom. It is not immediately clear how ICONS first acquired the video, but it catapulted Turner into the national anti-trans media ecosystem.

Less than a week after the post, the XX-XY Athletics Fund—the non-profit arm of an anti-trans clothing brand by the same name—dubbed Turner a “Courage Wins Champion,” awarding her $5,000 and mentorship through a “leadership program.”

Turner is the latest athlete to receive funding from the group, walking in the footsteps of household names in the anti-trans movement such as Payton McNabb and Brooke Slusser.

Turner told Fox News that she’s competed in this particular tournament for about a decade She “got really sad” when she learned her opponent might be trans. “I started crying,” Turner said. “I had already committed so much money to it, and training hours.”

She told the conservative outlet News Nation that she had spent a lot of time in years past imagining what she might do if she ever faced a trans opponent. “I always had this thought that, if ever something like this should happen, I would forfeit. And I had an idea of how I would forfeit. But I was nervous about it because it creates a statement that will obviously result in a black card”—the most severe penalty in fencing, resulting in expulsion from a competition.

“I was like, ‘You know what, I’m just going to give it to God. If this person shows up to my event, and they're on my strip, then I will take a knee, and that would be God's will," she told Fox News.

Beyond that, it was an okay tournament for Sullivan, who faced an uphill battle against most of her more seasoned opponents. She came in 24th place out of 38 total fencers, not including Turner.

“In the case of Stephanie Turner, her disqualification, which applies to this tournament only, was not related to any personal statement but was merely the direct result of her decision to decline to fence an eligible opponent,” USA Fencing said in a statement. “Under these rules, such a refusal results in disqualification and the corresponding sanctions. This policy exists to maintain fair competition standards and preserve the sport’s integrity.”

USAF also told The Associated Press that “a fencer is not permitted to refuse to fence another properly entered fencer for any reason.”

The Trump Administration has issued sweeping executive orders against trans athletes and applied political pressure onto sports’ governing bodies such as the NCAA to dismantle anti-discrimination policies. This tournament was not an NCAA event.

On April 8, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—who recently announced a bid for Senate—launched an investigation into USAF for “false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices” because they follow the International Fencing Federation’s gender inclusion guidelines. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, also of Texas, denounced USAF and accused the organization of violating federal law. The state’s jurisdiction and cause of action are not immediately clear, as neither athlete lives in or attends school in Texas and the competition did not take place in Texas.

These efforts seemingly mirror rhetoric seen in the Texas state legislature, which attempted to criminalize transness by deeming it “fraud.” As of publishing, the bill has not advanced out of committee, and it is seen as unlikely to pass.

In an email media statement to Express U.S. Sports, Sullivan’s trainers emphasized that the young athlete “has followed every rule and guideline set forth by the FIE (the international fencing governing organization) and USA Fencing (the national organization)."

According to a local news source, Sullivan had been allowed to compete on her college’s women’s fencing team in New York until Trump’s anti-trans executive order earlier this year. It is unclear whether she left voluntarily or at the behest of her university, but a college spokesperson said, “We are in full compliance with NCAA and NEC rules and regulations. The fencer is not a member of our fencing team.” Sullivan competes independently in USA Fencing tournaments.

The extent that these rules impact Sullivan’s athletic career are not immediately apparent—such as whether Trump’s executive order cost her scholarship money, opportunities, or more. She has not publicly commented on the incident with Turner.