Other golf organizations, like the United States Golf Association, do allow transgender players to compete, and the International Olympic Committee allows transgender athletes if they have gender reassignment surgery and two years of hormone therapy (Lawless would meet these requirements). On the Team, a report on recommended policies for young trans athletes, argues that the surgery requirement is misguided, and that for transfemale athletes, one year of hormone therapy should be sufficient to cancel out any advantage of being born male.
Transgender tennis player Renee Richards disagrees, telling Thomas that transfemale players might have an edge. But ultimately, lots of players have an advantage for some reason or another — why should an athlete’s gender identity be somehow a less valid or real attribute than, say, her height or strength? If we exclude women who were born male, why don’t we also exclude those who were born predisposed to be tall? It’s possible that, as Richards says, as trans athlete is “going to come along who’s strong in sprints or weight throwing or whatever and streak the field” — but is that possibility really enough to deny all trans athletes the right to compete with their identified gender? Transgender identity is just as fundamental as cisgender identity, and when we develop policies for trans athletes, we need to be careful not to treat them as less “real.”
Transgender Woman Sues L.P.G.A. Over Policy [NYT]
Earlier: Making Sports Fair For Transgender Athletes
Image via NYT
