Transgender Woman Sues L.P.G.A. Over Policy

[Shana A]

Transgender Woman Sues L.P.G.A. Over Policy
By KATIE THOMAS
Published: October 12, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/sports/golf/13lawsuit.html?_r=1

A transgender woman filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the L.P.G.A., arguing that its requirement that competitors be "female at birth" violates California civil rights law.

Lana Lawless, a 57-year-old retired police officer who had gender-reassignment surgery in 2005, made her name as an athlete in 2008 after winning the women's world championship in long-drive golf with a 254-yard drive into a headwind. But this year, Lawless was ruled ineligible in the same championship because Long Drivers of America, which oversees the competition, changed its rules to match the policy of the L.P.G.A. Lawless wrote a letter in May asking for permission to apply for L.P.G.A. qualifying tournaments and was told by a tour lawyer that she would be turned down.

[Pippa]

This is fairly par for the course with the LPGA (yup deliberate pun).

They had a lot of trouble a couple of years ago when they insisted that all competitors must be able to do press conferences in US English.   It was seen as a move to restrict many of the Korean golfers from competing in the tour.

[Izumi]

Sorry i kind of agree with their decision unless the TS person took anti-androgens before puberty.  Otherwise it is kind of unfair.  I mean technically she's been on steroids for years before she transitioned, how fair is that? Transitioning late does have effects on body and muscle mass as well as bone structure.  I hate to nit pick at it but i would say if your TS and got treatment before puberty ok, if not then not ok.

I mean look at me, i have the strength of a woman no problem, i can't lift 100lbs, i cant open a pickle jar, but looking at me, i do appear to have more muscle mass even though i dont exercise my upper body, and am still able to perform in sports with much more endurance and intensity then a GG of comparable age and build.  I work out almost everyday so i notice this.  While our legs look the same and our pace is the same, i might be on resistance level 10+ on my workout, but all the girls i see that resemble me are on 8 or less. 

Lets be honest about this, it is unfair, but then again should a gg  be barred if she has too much testosterone in her system? Its tough when their is no standards and hard to judge since athletes are supposed to excel.  Technically a GG's with testosterone issues is natural (all contained within their body) and not artificial like HRT so that would be a difference.  hmm..

[Alexmakenoise]

I agree with Izumi.  It's a tricky issue.  There's no obvious solution that's fair to everybody.  Most people do transition after puberty, so it would be like competing against someone who had been on steroids for years.  That said, I don't think there's any way to test athletes for past steroid use, so a cisperson COULD have been on steroids for years, go off of them, and be free to compete.  But if their past steroid use was made public, would they be allowed to compete?  Probably not.

Which leads to the other question: If people are required to compete as the gender they were born as, will all athletes now be tested for this?  And if so, how?  Assuming they don't make the effort to test everyone for TS, could a TS person hypothetically be stealth enough to get away with competing as their current gender?  Could such a rule simply encourage people to try to hide the fact that they're TS?

So there are a lot of theoretical concerns, but in practice, I think it basically makes sense in that trans women would be likely to have a natural advantage over cis women.  One disadvantage to being trans or in the middle of the gender spectrum is that it can make it harder to compete in sports where competition is divided by gender.  It sucks, but there's no completely fair solution. 

Or we could create a separate series of sporting events specifically for trans and intersex people.

[Keroppi]

Why can't they just follow similar procedure to that approved for the Olympics? The policy the last time I checked is basically

• required to be post-op,
• > 2 years hormones if transition post-puberty
• legal recognition of new gender.

I'm not entirely sure whether it was 2 years after surgery for post-puberty transition or just 2 years hormones in general, but the idea is that it's similar to a 2 year ban for an athlete that test positive for steroid. The time designed so that any benefit of the old hormones / steroid is no longer present.

Is a TS athlete different? Yes, but then so is every other athlete. No two people is the same. And as has been pointed regarding this issue elsewhere, a TS athlete actually have the added complication of having to adjust to various issues that a non-TS doesn't, such as a new centre of gravity, new distribution of muscles etc.

But if their past steroid use was made public, would they be allowed to compete?  Probably not.

The governing bodies can't stop them. They can only ban someone for prohibited drug use if the use was taking place after that person started competing.