"In previous years when I had known about transgender fencers being present, I just wouldn't register, but for this one, Redmond must have signed up after me," Turner said.

"I was like, ‘You know what, I’m just going to give it to God. If this person shows up to my event and is on my script, then I would take a knee, and that would be God's will.'"

It was not a decision she came to lightly, however.

Turner paid close attention to the "protect women's sports" movement that has emerged in recent years, and the backlash and harassment faced by the women who took part in it. She recalled the story of Riley Gaines being held hostage and assaulted at San Francisco State University in April 2023.

The idea of the backlash haunted Turner, but wasn't enough to stop her from taking the knee.

"It will probably, at least for a moment, destroy my life. I don't think that it's going to be easy for me from now on going to fencing tournaments. I don't think it's going to be easy for me at practice," Turner said. "It's very hard for me to do this."

For Turner, one of the sacrifices she is most concerned about is impeding the friendships she has with people in the LGBT community, who she said don't currently know about her stance on the issue.

As a lifelong Democrat, Turner insists she never opposed LGBTQ people. But the issue of trans inclusion of women's sports has driven her away from supporting the party, and she now identifies as a "new Republican conservative."

"I voted red down the ticket this year," Turner said. "It was like waking up to the lies of the mainstream media… Just to watch so many of my friends have this glassy-eyed look while just defending this policy because their brains can not manage the possibility that their party or their position has been wrong on this, and perhaps this isn't a civil rights movement, and they have been misled."

Turner added that she fully supports President Donald Trump cutting funding to states that allow trans athletes to compete in women's and girls sports.

"Something needs to be done, and there are activists who have embedded themselves in authoritative positions in sports bodies."