Trans Athletes

Those that know me know I am not a big fan of sports but many trans people are and many of us take part in sports.

CrossFit to allow transgender competitors in 2019 events
Athletes can compete under the gender they identify with.
Outsports
By Jim Buzinski
August 5, 2018

CrossFit will allow transgender competitors to compete in events in the gender class they identify with starting next year, CrossFit’s CEO announced this weekend.

“In the 2019 CrossFit competitive season, starting with the Open [a series of elimination events], transgender athletes are welcome to participate in the division with which they identify,” Glassman said in Madison, Wisconsin, where this year’s Reebok CrossFit Games are being held. “This is the right thing to do. CrossFit believes in the potential, capacity, and dignity of every athlete. We are proud of our LGBT community, including our transgender athletes, and we want you here with us.”

This is a major change for CrossFit, which was sued for $2.5 million in 2014 by Chloie Jonsson, a competitor who was outed as trans and then told she would have to compete as a man since that was the gender assigned to her at birth. In the four years since, CrossFit had stuck to its position, often using bigoted and ignorant language, until this weekend’s announcement.

According to Them…

Glassman spoke Friday at “Big Gay Happy Hour,” an event sponsored by LGBTQ+ CrossFit group OUTWOD. The group’s name refers to “WOD,” or Workout of the Day, CrossFit code for the series of exercises that a CrossFit coach gives athletes.

Alyssa Royse, a CrossFit affiliate gym owner and board member at the Out Foundation — the nonprofit that oversees OUTWOD — says she’s worked closely with CrossFit leaders to bring the new policy to life.

“I think it's important to realize that CrossFit is the largest fitness brand in the world, and where we go, others — we hope — will follow,” Royse says.

Out Foundation executive director Will Lanier calls the policy change “magical.”

Well I wouldn’t call it “magical” but I would say a 2.5 million dollar law suit might have had something to do with it.

This comes on the heels of a debate here in Connecticut over trans athletes student sports. The Hartford Courant reported two months ago,

The success of transgender female athletes participating in high school track and field events has parents, athletes and coaches in some communities calling for a change in the current rules, as they question a possible competitive advantage.

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs high school sports in the state, allows athletes to compete in the gender specific sport in which they identify. Continued success by transgender athletes has prompted two petitions — one started in Glastonbury and another in Plainville — from critics who say transgender athletes have an advantage. Together, the petitions have about 150 signatures, though neither has been submitted to CIAC officials.

At the end of the article in the Courant the newspaper’s editors write,

Editor’s note: The rules under which transgender athletes are allowed to compete in high school sporting events in Connecticut have come under renewed scrutiny, sparked in part by the recent success of one athlete. Critics of the policy say it is unfair to cis girls, as it forces them to compete against athletes with higher levels of testosterone.

The Courant has also been criticized for not mentioning the athlete’s gender identity as part of its sports coverage.

Our decision follows extensive discussion and debate among reporters and editors here. While some felt it was central to our mission to deliver a complete accounting of this issue – including the athlete’s name – in the end we have opted to report on the issue and the debate around the rules but not single out any single athlete for scrutiny.
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Last, there are those who argue we are ignoring the fact that a transgender girl may have an “unfair” advantage. But what is fair or unfair in sports is, to a degree, subjective. Tall people have an advantage on the basketball court. Athletes whose parents can afford to send them to year-round training have a clear-cut advantage in soccer, tennis and other sports. Our notions of what is fair and unfair are often driven by our own frames of reference.

In discussing this issue, we were not unmindful of the way an athlete who has been working toward a goal might feel when dealing with this changing landscape. But it is also crucial to reflect on the nature of high school sports. Everybody wants to win and there’s nothing wrong with that. But there’s more to it; playing on a team is also about commitment, dedication, teamwork and inclusion. Many great — and lasting — friendships were forged on the playing field.