Semmler on ESL Impact: Allowing [trans women] to compete defeats the purpose

ESL's Impact League has wrapped up its Season 2 Finals in Jönköping over the weekend, where the American sides fell short after being favorites to go deep in the event. Nigma Galaxy ended up as the second consecutive winners of the league as they continued their dominance in Europe and the International stage.

After the conclusion of the event, comments from Franco-American caster Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat emerged where he criticized the inclusion of transgender women within the ESL Impact League. Semmler stated in a YouTube comment, "I'm afraid that you've been misled into believing that men can become women and vice versa. Men should not be competing in a female league."

Many within the esports community have criticized Semmler's comments as being transphobic and unaccepting of individuals who have either transitioned or in the process of transitioning. In a Twitter post, Semmler confirmed his stance that transgender women should not participate in an ESL Impact League event.

Yes, I care about the integrity of the league for the female players. If the female players want to have a league to compete amongst themselves, they should get it. Allowing men to compete in that league defeats the purpose of the league.

ESL's rules on transgender inclusion at Impact events are very clear, as laid out in the publicly available rulebook. According to ESL Impact Rule 2.7.6: "Due to the specific restrictions of the ESL Impact competition, only teams with 5 women (cis or transgender) players are allowed to participate. ESL reserves the right to verify and confirm a participant’s gender by requesting additional documentation. This could be a government issued ID or a doctor’s note."

In addition, there are two transgender women participating in the ESL Impact League right now on top women's teams, both of which featured in the ESL Impact League Season Two finals in Jönköping. Olga "Olga" Rodrigues and Anna "garden" Gutierrez, who compete for FURIA and EG Gold, respectively, are currently playing at the top level in Americas organizations.

There has not been widespread opposition to the inclusion of transgender women in other women's specific leagues like VALORANT's Game Changers by other women participating in the league. Riot Games specifically used gender-inclusive language to welcome non-binary, genderfluid, and transgender individuals into the league when it first began. With that inclusion, there have been several successful transgender individuals within that league, such as Erika "KP" Lytle, who used to play CS:GO in the North American ESEA circuit, but is now a top-level player in VALORANT and recently finished as runner's up in the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022: Game Changers Championship.

Semmler's position regarding the integrity of the league has come into question after it was pointed out that the caster made several posts questioning the authenticity of the league just late last year. Semmler even went on the mock the concept of a womens-only league by sarcastically suggesting that a men's only league be created.

The ESL Impact League was created by ESL as they were looking to "attract more women into the game through a safe environment to compete in." Allowing transgender individuals into the league was also seen as an important step in promoting further inclusivity.