A trans-identified male is being honored with a Guinness World Record for being the first “openly transgender football referee.” Lucy Clark referees matches in the Women’s National League and at men’s grassroots level.
On June 30, Guinness World Records (GWR) posted a short clip to Twitter naming a male who identifies as transgender as the “first openly transgender football referee.” In addition to a short video profiling Lucy Clark, GWR posted an accompanying article featuring an interview with him and his wife.
In the article, Clark says that football “saved” his life.
The article reads: “When she considered taking her own life, glancing at a football stadium in the distance gave her strength. It felt like a sign. ‘It allowed me to come down in an elevator rather than in other ways,’ she says.”
After suffering a heart attack at the end of 2017, Clark decided to come out as transgender, though was initially hesitant to tell the Football Association out of concerns he would not be accepted. At the beginning of the 2019 season, he came out publicly as a “transgender woman” with the Football Association’s support.
Clark has since launched Trans Radio UK (TRUK), a radio station focusing on creating a “safe space” for transgender people. TRUK also has its own dedicated football club, which appears to have “female trans” and “trans masc” teams for males who identify as women and females who identify as men. The club also seems to allow for an open category in which the team configuration can comprise of anyone.
The all “trans masc” team for females who identify as men made headlines earlier this year after competing against a non-transgender male team and taking a devastating loss of 8-to-1.
Clark’s wife, a female named Avril, recently won a “Trans Ally of the Year” award.
āYou have to be an ally. You have to stand up, because the hate against trans people now is virulent,” Avril is quoted by Guinness World Records as saying.
On Twitter, Guinness World Records was ruthlessly mocked by netizens for referring to Clark as a “woman” using “she/her” pronouns.
“What record did he set? The first ref who thinks he’s a lass AND said so in public,” user @Adhib asked.
Not one person in the entire world actually believes that this fat man with long hair is actually called Lucy, and that he's a woman.
— Khalid Al Obaidly (@KhalidAl3baidly) July 1, 2023
“Another bloke who escalated in his fetish and now demands women to participate,” another user wrote in reply.
As of the writing of this article, the Guinness World Records tweet has over 1,200 overwhelmingly negative replies compared to just 900 ‘likes.’
On his Instagram, Clark recently posted a photo with former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, praising her for her work on behalf of the transgender community.
Sturgeon resigned from her post earlier this year after becoming the target of widespread backlash for her attempts to push through devastating gender self-identification legislation in Scotland. Just prior to her resignation, Surgeon’s government attempted pass controversial amendments to the Gender Recognition Act which would streamline the process of altering sex markers on legal documents. Notably, an amendment to the bill which would have prohibited anyone convicted of a sexual offense from changing their legal sex was rejected.
But Scotland would become the target of international criticism in January after a number of highly dangerous male inmates expressed an interest to be moved to the female estate, with some being green-lit to do so.
The debate flared up after it was learned a male double-rapist had been placed in a womenās prison ahead of his sentencing.
News of the placement resulted in global outcry, and the rapist was removed from the female estate after Sturgeon agreed that he should not be held in the female estate. Sturgeon resigned amidst the controversy.
On Twitter, Clark expressed repeated support for Dr. Helen Webberley, a woman who runs the much-decried GenderGP, an online clinic providing “gender-affirming” care.
Webberley was found guilty of recklessly prescribing puberty blockers and cross sex hormones to patients as young as 9, and only recently won an appeal on the suspension of her medical license.
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