Former high school wrestler and activist Mack Beggs has gone public with his harrowing ordeal trying to wrestle in high school as a transgender man. Beggs adds that he chose to share his story now in opposition to a flood of proposed state laws that would ban transgender athletes from competing in school sports.
Now 22, Beggs first attracted national attention in 2017 when a female high school wrestler sued to prevent him from competing in the sport. In Texas where Beggs grew up, the policy stipulates that transgender men–no matter how far along in transition–must compete in women’s sports. Beggs had lobbied to compete on the men’s team, but was denied by school authorities. He was just 17 at the time.
“I was in a very dark place,” Beggs told Yahoo News in a new interview. “I had to seek out help, and I’m so glad I did that. Mentally, it took a toll on me. I think we need to have resources in place for other [trans] kids who are in those positions.”
2021 has seen the highest number of anti-transgender bills filed in the history of the United States, according to the Human Rights Campaign. That includes bills in 30 states designed to block transgender women from competing in women’s sports, and bills that would require transgender men to compete with women. That statistic prompted Beggs to speak out.
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“I think it’s disgusting,” Beggs said of the proposed laws. “I think it’s revolting and honestly appalling that they’re trying to pass all these bills at the same time. Sports are supposed to be an outlet for kids. The most important thing about sports is learning these life lessons and getting these tools in order to go through life.”
“If you are a transgender athlete and you have got to be checked medically, so if somebody doesn’t look like a woman, it’s going to be targeting queer and LGBT women, or nonbinary people, I just think that’s a huge issue,” he said before adding that he “wouldn’t want somebody to [physically] check my daughter if she was 14 years old. That’s hugely intrusive.”
Regarding his own experience, Beggs also said that his transition didn’t provide him an unfair advantage–something critics of transgender people in sports often cite as a reason for bans on trans athletes.
“I can say that I was biologically a woman, so technically there was no advantage,” Beggs explained. “And I made sure there was no advantage because when I was on testosterone, I took a hormone blocker on top of taking my hormones. So it wasn’t just my estrogen being depleted, but it was also the synthetic hormone testosterone that I was also putting inside my body that was also decreasing. I probably could have messed up my body in high school because of that, and I honestly don’t know what the biological factors are or what hormonal factors will do to me in the future.”
“It was a no-win situation,” he added of his experience being forced to wrestle girls. “It was just a struggle that I hope nobody else has to go through.”
In recent years, the battle over how to include transgender students in schools has intensified. In addition to the aforementioned bills that would limit transgender participation in sports, a number of other states have proposed so-called “bathroom bills” aimed at blocking trans students from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.
Stephen M
Women’s sport must be protected against transgender ideology. It’s the transwomen trying to steal from girls that are the threat, but the transmen like this one are wheeled out for sympathy.
GentlemanCaller
Well you certainly wasted no time jumping up to proclaim your neolithic, transphobic opinions for all the world to see. No one cares what you think about this or any other issue, so just get over yourself honey.
ryeguypdx
I think your tone’s a little pointed, but your points are valid. The trans community should find every happiness, all self-realization possible, go get it. But this is common sense, especially regarding trans women. I don’t think “But I’m taking estrogen” entirely covers it.
I always think of that great line from Black Jeopardy: “What is – mmm, I don’ t know, you can’t do everything.”
Cam
I think it’s adorable that the exact same right wingers who have tried to cut funding for women’s sports in schools and have tried to destroy title 9 which protects women’s sports in school, now pretend to care about women’s sports.
Also, the entire argument that they don’t want Trans athletes to compete because they’ll have an unfair advantage goes into the garbage because they wouldn’t let him compete on the men’s team. There is no unfair advance, but they still blocked it.
It’s the same B.S. fear mongering they used to try to keep gays and lesbians from being teachers or adopting kids. It’s just about hate and bigotry.
Mr. Stadnick
Why are you so frightened and hateful?
msfrost
That violates, Title 9 and the 14th amendment,.
doristhom
Secret playground for adults, where you can meet different people – xmeet.fun
resl
I agree with you. 100%. They should compete in their own trans category. Sport is about fairness, not EQUALITY.
[email protected]
Stephen is correct. Identifying opposite of the anatomy you were born in is fine. Imposing it on others when clearly it results in an unfair advantage…boys transitioning to girls and competing with them….ultimately does not engender (pardon the pun) sympathy for the valid trans causes
Cam
Yes because it’s all a scam you know.
Boys in high school are in on the massive trick where they lie to a psychologist for years, take hormones, and suffer years of abuse and bullying, all so they can play varsity on the women’s sports team, which, if they’re lucky could lead to a career in the WNBA where they can become billionaires by making $35,000 a year over their 5 or 6 year career. Yep, you caught them.
Thad
Has anyone transitioned gender so they could succeed at high school or college sports?
I didn’t think so.
msfrost
Transwomen, have not won any races, against Cisgender women, in fact the Cisgender women have the unfair advantage!
resl
boblrice
I’m shocked how misogynistic some gay men are. Frankly, it’s disgusting. Doesn’t it even cross your mind that maybe we should ask female athletes who were born biologically female if they accept competition with trans women? Ask them. And if they say no, you guys will probably attack them all as transphobic.
[email protected]
Cam You totally miss the point. I’m not denying the issues that trans people go through to become their true selves. Nevertheless, taking hormones and having surgeries do not make people physically the same. A person “in transition” can alter their appearance but a woman on testosterone therapy will not have the exact anatomy of a man and vice versa.
boblrice
You know what else does not make people “physically the same” and gives people “unfair advantages”? Being born as a human person. Because literally EVERYONE is born with varying advantages and disadvantages. When I played sports in HS guess what, I was 5’6” and a skinny twink. Other guys were 6’2” and jacked. And we were all born with male genitalia (I know, because I looked). So F this BS about adavantage and hormones and blah, blah, blah… there’s literally NO issues here except an opportunity for conservatives to re-direct the focus from actual issues in the world to the next “Gay marriage” wedge issue.
Den
Women who transition develop a musculature equal in size and power to men of similar stature. Their features coarsen, and they develop typical secondary sexual characteristics.
Men who transition lose muscle mass and strength, develop higher levels of subcutaneous fat, and show some structural changes.
Of course they will not have the “exact same anatomy” as their counterparts with the same birth sex.
But you seem not to understand that it is very different from cross dressing!
whatsaywhat
@boblrice – following your logic, trans men should only be allowed to compete in mens’ sports if they haven’t received performance-enhancing testosterone shots or hormone therapy. Those being the breaks, if you will, of being born “a human person… with varying advantages and disadvantages”. So if trans men can use these, why shouldn’t cis men be allowed to use them as well?
The strident reactionary tone of your post (and those of several others) suggest you don’t have any interest in the actual issue… (see: “blah blah blah”). Your interest lies in labeling other people haters and bigots for even daring to have the conversation.
Cam
No, you don’t understand the issue.
The fear mongering over transpeople in bathrooms was no longer working so now they try a ridiculous phony outrage machine created issue that apparently trans people are doing it to get a benefit in sports.
So the same Republicans that have wanted to kill women’s school sports for years now pretend to care about women’s sports.
Here’s a thought, I’ll worry about civil rights first, then when that is cleared up we can debate irrelevant issues like whether or not someone on a softball team in a high school with 500 students, is trans.
Den
Where transgirls are concerned, levels of testosterone as well as how long it has been since surgery and hormone replacement began can be factored in: just as levels of hormones are tested in “real” women to assure fair competition. Disparities in upper body strength and muscle mass relating to the presence of male hormones are real. And the general range of hormone levels is well known through past research.
Where transboys are concerned, the desire to exclude them is simply mean spirited and nothing more. And as with female athletes, the range of hormones found in “cis” males is well established, and if their levels are higher, they are suspect and tested for doping. One need only apply the same standard to trans male athletes. It is no different from “blood doping” or any other chemical enhancement.
The paradigm that most opponents to trans school athletes are operating under is “God does not make mistakes”; a paradigm that has no place in a secular society where empiricism must drive decisions, not dogma. They are the same people who insist on referring to trans individuals by no longer appropriate pronouns or names.
msfrost
Well said!
ashersea
Yes, you’re in a no-win situation when you mix steroids and sports.
Ronbo
Yes, testosterone, natural or as a supplement, has a significant impact. Imagine the people who train for decades only to be defeated by someone on testosterone, natural or as a supplement.
James26
Sports must be segregated by sex, not by “gender” or “gender identity.” Thus, it was correct to forbid Beggs from competing in male wrestling. However, it does not follow that Beggs should have competed in female wrestling. As a biological female, Beggs certainly qualified for a female team, but that’s not the only factor in allowing a student to compete. Beggs took a performance-enhancing drug, testosterone. On that basis, Beggs should have been disqualified.
This might be seen as a tough outcome for Beggs or others like Beggs, being disqualified from both the male and female teams for different reasons. But it’s a situation entirely of their own making and neither boys nor girls should bear the cost of their choices.
Creamsicle
Let’s all Boomer Shriek about the integrity of a sport we never participated in, and minimize the experience of an athlete we’ve never met. That will definitely solve everything.
whatsaywhat
Who says anyone here is a. a boomer, b. shrieking, or c. hasn’t participated in wrestling?
Is shutting down other people engaged in a legitimate conversation meant as a tool of persuasion?
Or is is just a quick way to give yourself a little shot of sanctimonious feel-good energy?
whatsaywhat
And before throwing around your bigoted ageism, you might want to remember it was boomers who brought us the civil rights movement, womens’ liberation and the stonewall uprising.
What have you done?
boblrice
@Whatsaywhat I guess don’t see spirited discourse here. But I’ll provide the benefit of the doubt. Here is my thoughtful attempt at stating my position:
1. I personally see this as making an issue out of a non-problem. How many HS trans athletes are out there that require a state-wide conversation, let alone a law banning participation? This wreaks of political opportunism for conservatives to rile up peoples’ bias and discomfort over something they don’t understand.
2. Unless you want to advocate for trans people to be banned from sports altogether (and I suppose that could your position), what would you suggest? A trans male compete with girls? We have seen this in Texas and that also created outrage as “unfair advantage”.
The truth is now is a particularly intense time of change. Generations younger than mine (I’m 51) have a much different notion of gender that goes beyond the binary. I won’t begin to say I fully grasp trans, fluid, non-binary gender identity perspectives.
During times of change things get messy. They’re difficult for many. And the right answer is often illusive.
But when looking at history, the right answer has never been a guttural reactionary hold onto what was. That’s not how we make progress.
Roy Moss
Oh for God’s sake. How about people just mind their own freaking business and let people alone to live their lives? I don’t understand the whole trans or non-binary experience, but I don’t have to. These people are trying to live happy lives and are not hurting anyone, so how about we let them get on with things? Why is everyone who is “different” subject to such vitriol?
Cam
Some of the arguments here would make it seem that young girls who’s parents are tall should also be excluded from sports.
The arguments are literally, “Well, the trans students may have a physical advantage. Hmmm, so if a girl’s parents are Dutch, or from some of the areas of China, where people tend to be taller, should not be allowed to pay basketball because she may have a physical advantage?
Again, the same people on Fox News screaming about this have wanted to cut school budgets and get rid of women’s sports for decades, so not buying their sudden concern.