Lana Lawless, the MTF transgender golfer, was denied admittance to the Ladies Professional Golf Association — because she wasn’t born a lady. HELLO LAWSUIT.
Lawless, 57, who had gender reassignment surgery in 2005, is going after both the LPGA and the Long Drivers of America for rules that require competitors to be “female at birth.” The LDA even changed its rules in 2008 — because of Lawless, who managed a 254-yard drive at the Long Drive Championship, and won.
The golfer has “been warming up for this lawsuit for some time,” notes SF Weekly, with documented correspondence with the groups to get them on the record identifying their rules that effectively bar trans women. In her federal lawsuit filed in San Francisco, Lawless says she wants an immediate injunction keeping the golfing organizations from refusing her membership, as well as damages for economic advantage interference and unfair competition.
“I am, in all respects, legally, and physically female,” she says in a statement. “The state of California recognizes me as such and the LPGA should not be permitted to come into California and blatantly violate my rights. I just want to have the same opportunity to play professional golf as any other woman.” Meanwhile:
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Lawless said the LPGA is one of the few athletic organizations to bar transgender competitors. She noted that the International Olympic Committee has allowed transgender athletes since 2004 as long as the competitor underwent surgery and at least two years of hormone-replacement therapy. “I could participate in female wrestling in international Olympic events,” said Lawless.
Perhaps it’s time those recommendations for how colleges handle transgender athletes be adopted by the pros. (Also: Does Lana have the most appropriate surname or what?)
EdWoody
If they’re required to be female at birth, does that mean they would accept a female-to-male transgendered person, born female but now a male? Or would they find a reason to complain about that too?
TommyOC
@EdWoody: I believe they would. They’d have to, one would think, based on the literal reading of their rule.
That said, there’s one thing a trans person, particularly MTF can’t change about themselves – and this isn’t meant to inflame or infuriate, it’s meant just as a true statement: Bone structure and muscle density.
Folks posessing the XY chromosome pairing have, on average, a statistically higher bone and muscle density – or a potential to have same – than those possessing XX do. This translates into a greater strength potential and the ability to withstand greater forces, which means longer drives, harder hits, you name it.
And although hormones can undo a lot of those natural advantages, the potential and ability to physically grow remains. Besides, hormones are not the be-all, end-all of what makes a trans person trans, right?
I’m a gay sports fan and I recognize not only the need for trans equality and considerations for trans people, but also the need for competitive integrity in sport (not to confused with moral integrity). And in this case, the two cannot be resolved to mutual delight of both interests.
missanthrope
“And although hormones can undo a lot of those natural advantages, the potential and ability to physically grow remains. Besides, hormones are not the be-all, end-all of what makes a trans person trans, right?”
I can attest by personal experience that MtF HRT significantly reduces muscle density (and can affect bone density if not properly administered).
I kinda have to chuckle when the issue of trans women competing in sports comes up because people pretend it’s a unknown quality, but I’ve known and know of many trans women competing in both amateur and professional sports. They usually re-enter their sport a couple years after transition after the HRT has taken time to work. They usually find that they are neither above or below average in performance in the field and usually place the rankings of women sports where they did competing as men. ie. some one who came in 3rd-6th place as a man will usually place in the same range as a woman.
That being said, most people who start talking about the bone structure and muscle density of an XY person who has undergone HRT treatments usually don’t know much about the effects of HRT and just how powerful sex hormones are (estrogen reduces muscle density and tone), the effects are far reaching and can also affect both coordination and eye-sight (curvature of eye lens).
If you assume that trans women have a measurable advantage in sports after a couple of years on properly dosed HRT, then this has not been borne out the experience of trans women athletes.
It’s sad that these discussions are usually based on assumptions and speculation about what sex hormones do and their actual affects rather than the lived experiences of trans people themselves who can tell you what they do and how they affect performance in athletics.
Unfortunately that is about the only information we have to go on for now, as scientists have never really taken up study of how trans athletes perform after transition.
Evan
@TommyOC: Chromosomes don’t determine sex differences bone or muscle density – sex hormones do. That’s why XY women born with CAIS are, for purposes of athletics, indistinguishable from XX women. After a sufficient period of time, so are XY transsexual women. The Olympic Committee deems 2 years to be a sufficient period of time.
Regarding your “potential” argument, XX women have the potential to develop much higher muscle mass and density too – with the administration of anabolic/androgenic hormones. But neither XX nor XY women, regardless of birth anatomy, can develop or remain outside the normal female range for these traits as long as their hormone balance remains within the normal female range.
There are certain sports – notably ones where height is a major advantage – where trans women might retain a competitive advantage. But then, there are other sports like gymnastics and figure skating where height is a disadvantage, and trans women would be permanently disadvantaged in these. In neither case are they particularly different from XX women who happen to be tall.
TommyOC
@Evan: You raise excellent points and put a lot more technical emphasis into the matter than I presently posses.
But you’re also helping to prove my point in a couple of significant regards:
1) The classification of “transgender” can include a person that is before, during or after the transition process. For those that are more intimately familiar with transgender folks – or are one yourself – is that an accurate statement?
2) Some physical characteristics usually bestowed by chromosomal birth persist after transition. (But I agree that some of these characteristics are only beneficial in certain situations.)
Like I said to close my first statement, trans equality and considerations may not be compatible with competitive integrity.
TommyOC
@missanthrope: And not to leave you out for recognition, your points are keenly taken as well. I appreciate your insight on the MTF process and what’s involved. I think we’d both be very interested in a quantified study undertaken on the subject.
Fitz
There has to be some kind of creative answer which recognizes both that gender is fairly fluid and that it would be an unfair advantage to have a man’s hormone level for 40 years. It’s really a screw-you to athletes who are born female, for the sake of being PC, to say otherwise.
Tori
@Evan: Not to nit pick but no all trans women are tall and some lose height on hormones.
Andy
@TommyOC: You’re right that “transgender” is a very broad term, but I think that requiring MTF athletes to take hormones for a certain amount of time would fix this problem. This isn’t a new issue; the Olympic Committee allows trans athletes, and they’ve determined that hormones are enough to get rid of those pesky extra muscles.
Boo
But what about the XX women who are born with a propensity to develop more muscles and height than other XX women? Don’t they have an unfair advantage too?
If transwomen are women, then the circumstances that can lead some of them to have a competitive advantage over other women are no more or less valid than for any other woman with the genetic propensity to be athletic. If on the other hand you just don’t believe transwomen are women, then come right out and say so.
peter
It’s very simple – just create their own category, and they can compete to their hearts’ desire.