PORTER: TRANS BAN WAS BASED ON SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE
05/06/2026 By Aaron Nijjar
PDC chief Matt Porter insists the transgender ban in women’s darts was based on “scientific evidence”.
The Darts Regulation Authority recently introduced new rules preventing transgender women from competing in female-only events
Dutch star Noa-Lynn van Leuven is now no longer eligible to play on the PDC Women’s Series or at the Women’s World Matchplay.
The decision followed an extensive review commissioned by the DRA, which included a report from developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton.
The report concluded that “multiple, small-magnitude sex differences accumulate to generate male advantage over females in darts”.
Porter has now defended the governing body’s decision and stressed it was reached independently.
He told oche180: “We’ve signed up to the DRA as our governing body, so we follow DRA rules in every aspect of our operations.
“There was an open line of communication. We were very aware of the process. The DRA took relevant legal advice and spoke to other sporting governing bodies about their own procedures and policies.
“They arrived at a position that, firstly, had to be legally justifiable and defensible, and secondly, had to be followed by any organisation affiliated with the DRA, which includes us.”
Porter also rejected suggestions the governing body simply followed the lead of other sports such as Athletics.
He said: “In all honesty, I don’t think it particularly changed the direction of the decision.
“It may have validated it a little, but I don’t think it influenced it.
“The decision was made independently, based on a specific report that was commissioned and contained scientific evidence. That was the reasoning behind the DRA’s policy change.”
Image by Taylor Lanning.
