{"id":51827,"date":"2026-07-13T14:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T18:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=51827"},"modified":"2026-07-13T14:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T18:36:18","slug":"fencer-who-took-a-knee-against-trans-opponent-speaks-out-after-scholarship-revelation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/07\/fencer-who-took-a-knee-against-trans-opponent-speaks-out-after-scholarship-revelation.html","title":{"rendered":"Fencer Who Took a Knee Against Trans Opponent Speaks Out After Scholarship Revelation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adobe Stock | Inset: Wagner Athletics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2025, 31-year-old fencer Stephanie Turner took a knee to her opponent during the Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland. Turner was set to face off against Redmond Sullivan, a biological male who identified as female and was attending Wagner College at the time. Sullivan had competed on the men\u2019s team during the 2023-2024 season as he had not finished a full year of hormone therapy, but had switched to the women\u2019s team for the 2024-2025 season. Turner\u2019s refusal to compete against Sullivan was an act of frustration, feeling that the pro-transgender policies of USA Fencing prevented her from voicing her concerns. \u201c’I was like, I don’t even want to reach out because if I do, then I won’t ever have a fair bout in my life,\u201d she told Daily Mail<\/em><\/a>. \u201cSo what I was doing already was just avoiding tournaments where I knew there was a transgender fencer. But at this point, what else should I do? Should I just not sign up for any tournaments? I have no other options.\u201d Turner described the moment she knelt to Fox News Digital<\/em>. \u00a0\u201cRedmond was under the impression that I was going to start fencing. So when I took the knee, I looked at the ref and I said, \u2018I\u2019m sorry, I cannot do this. I am a woman, and this is a man, and this is a women\u2019s tournament. And I will not fence this individual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now a profile written about the incident from Sullivan\u2019s perspective on CT Mirror<\/em><\/a> has revealed that not only was Sullivan competing against women, but he was also receiving a women\u2019s scholarship of $5,000 per semester from Wagner. That changed on February 2, 2025 when President Trump signed the executive order, \u201cKeeping Men Out of Women\u2019s Sports,\u201d which banned transgender women athletes from\u00a0sports competitions held by entities that receive federal funding. The new NCAA rules that were rolled out after the order meant that Sullivan was removed from Wagner\u2019s fencing tournament roster and lost the scholarship.<\/p>\n

Turner reacted to the news that Sullivan was receiving scholarship money that was designated for a woman. \u201cIt\u2019s funny Redmond let it slip in this sob piece that he\u2019s been earning women\u2019s athletic scholarship money, as if women should feel sorry that he\u2019s been stealing money and opportunities from them. It really highlights the obscenity of trans activist claims that \u2018transwomen\u2019 just want to be included when in fact they\u2019re earning coveted positions on college sports teams, scholarship money, and awards off the backs of deserving women,\u201d she told Outkick<\/em><\/a>. Sullivan has since left Wagner to attend University of Connecticut (UConn), where his father works and he receives free tuition. He has stepped away some from fencing, choosing to compete in mixed-gender competitions. Turner voiced her appreciation for the recent 6-3 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed states have the right to limit sports participation to biological gender. But she says there is still more to do. \u201cTotally ridding women\u2019s sports of men requires states to pass their own bills, and we all know there are Democrat-run state legislatures so deeply wedded to transgender ideology that the idea of passing such bills seems daunting,\u201d she said. \u201cAs long as we keep sounding the alarm, waking people up to common sense, and cataloging our grievance, these bills will get passed. It\u2019s only a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2025, 31-year-old fencer Stephanie Turner took a knee to her opponent during the Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland. Turner was set to face off against Redmond Sullivan, a biological male who identified as female and was attending Wagner College at the time. Sullivan had competed on the men\u2019s team during the 2023-2024 season as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":51830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nFencer Who Took a Knee Against Trans Opponent Speaks Out After Scholarship Revelation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fencer Stephanie Turner speaks out after opponent's women's scholarship is revealed amid Trump order, NCAA rule changes and sports debates.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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