Transsexual athletes treated unfairly

[Shana A]

Transsexual athletes treated unfairly
By Donna Rose, Special to CNN
October 20, 2010 1:49 p.m. EDT

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/18/rose.transsexuals.sports/

(CNN) -- Lana Lawless hits golf balls. She hits them hard and far, with astonishing accuracy. She won the Women's Long Drivers of America competition in 2008 when she hit a ball more than 250 yards. Lana is so good, in fact, that the LDA changed the rules this year to prevent her from competing. The LPGA has a rule to specifically exclude her, as well.

In August, 18-year-old runner Caster Semenya from Kenya won the gold medal in the 800-meter event of the World Track and Field Championships, beating her nearest rival by an astonishing two seconds. Afterward, she faced weeks of humiliating psychological, gynecological and physical testing to prove that she was female ordered by International Association of Athletics Federations. It took over a year to eventually award her the medal.