Former RuPaul’s Drag Race star and current fashion model Carmen Carrera has heard about the transgender CrossFit enthusiast suing over discrimination, and she is not having any of it.
We reported yesterday that Chloie Jonsson, a trans woman, is suing fitness company CrossFit for $2.5 million for “violating her civil rights.” The company is not allowing her to compete in the women’s division at the upcoming CrossFit Games because “she was born with a penis.”
Carrera has ironically enough told the media previously that trans people’s private parts are none of your business, but she talked about it anyway with TMZ this afternoon:
“When you remove your testicles … that is it. You are no longer a male and you don’t produce testosterone,” Carrera says.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
“You get weaker … your whole body switches and it starts to reshape.”
Carrera adds, “Put [Chloie] under the test and I bet her [testosterone] levels are the same as the rest of the competitors. Run some tests to make it fair.”
The jury is surprisingly split on the issue — many Queerty commenters believe Chloie has the right to compete as the gender with which she identifies, while a few believe CrossFit is within their rights because Chloie’s genetic makeup has been argued to be “inherently different” than other women.
As Queerty commenter Thedrdonna pointed out yesterday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) clearly states in their handbook for the Inclusion of Transgender Student Athletes that this assumption is “not supported by evidence”:
It is also important to know that any strength and endurance advantages a transgender woman arguably may have as a result of her prior testosterone levels dissipate after about one year of estrogen or testosterone-suppression therapy. According to medical experts on this issue, the assumption that a transgender woman competing on a women’s team would have a competitive advantage outside the range of performance and competitive advantage or disadvantage that already exists among female athletes is not supported by evidence.
What do you think?
bnard620
I think that it has more to do with how long you might have been in either transition or not. I’m not sure what words to use, but I think it has to do with the amount of time.
QJ201
Sorry to be a twat, but Chloe is 5’4″
If she were a 6’2″ former marine trans woman (they exist, don’t you all watch talk shows?), this would be totally different conversation.
AlexM
Why sue for 2.5 million dollars? Seems like it’s more about the money.
balehead
If she was suing for the right to compete I wouldn’t question her sincerity…But she is suing for money…..big money that is….
tardis
Maybe this is one of those “women playing with pro football
things.” I don’t think Crosssfit is acting out of any sort of phobias…i think they’re just unsure about how to go about it.
@QJ201: But what about other transwomen that ARE 6’2″? Do they need to meet certain criteria to be considered women? And if so what is that criteria?
litper
Why would she reject her masculinity but then want to do manly things?
vklortho
@litper: It’s not always about masculinity and femininity. It often has something to do with having an aversion to your own male body.
litper
@vklortho: doesn’t sound logical, unless she’s a lesbian now, but then why would she want to make the body she hates so much… weird… no wonder transsexuality is still an official mental illness
mallorie
@litper: Only men should do things labelled “masculine” and only women should do things labelled “feminine”? If competing in a physical activity is deemed masculine (by you, I might add), and hence men only, what opinion do you have of women and the female gender role, litper?
Tracy Pope
@litper:
The American Psychiatric Association changed their lists and definitions of mental illness over a year ago. A simple search brings up numerous reports about it.
GeriHew
@litper: FYI Lesbians don’t generally hate their female bodies.
Some research that has been done on M2F sexuality indicated that the majority are attracted to women. The majority of those being bisexual. The number found who are exclusively attracted to women wasn’t much smaller than the number who are exclusively attracted to men. It also found that many had concealed their attraction to women from medical professionals when seeking gender reassignment out of fear that treatment would be denied due to homophobic attitudes.
Clearly gender identity and sexuality are not the same thing.
Whatever Chloie Jonsson’s sexuality may be I don’t see that it has anything to do with her being allowed or not allowed to compete as a female in the CrossFit Games.
Matt G
this comes up frequently in competitions with a gender division. The real take-home is that society can’t think on its toes well enough to deal with a world that isn’t a strict gender binary. This has to do not just with people that are trans but also people that are intersex or if they’re going off of hormone levels people who have abnormal hormone levels. For like 95% of the population there’s a pretty consistent chromosome-hormone-phenotype matchup but that doesn’t mean the other 5% needs to be barred from any type of competition forevermore
jayj150
@Tracy Pope: If it’s no longer an illness, why do transsexuals keep suing the government and insurance companies to pay for their transition?.