Transgender Athletes in Sports: The case of Lana Lawless and the LPGA
The issue of the inclusion of transgender athletes in major sporting events is a very touchy subject. There have been several high profile cases in the past and the latest one is that of transgender golfer Lana Lawless. She is currently suing the LPGA and
the people behind the Long Drive Competition, over her being banned from being able to compete. This is a very interesting case because a lot of people have numerous misconceptions and prejudices about transgender athletes. The athletes themselves simply claim
that they want to be taken seriously as the s*x they now are and they want to compete as athletes and nothing else. They may end up getting the respect they need or maybe they will be excluded from competing.
Transgender athletes are very interesting for a few reasons. There is an unspoken taboo in regards to sports and athletes. Sports has in the past been seen as a very masculine pursuit but this thinking was changed when popular female athletes came about
and destroyed the misconception that one cannot be feminine and a very accomplished athlete as well. Once that hurdle was crossed, then came the issue of g*y and L*****n athletes. Even though this is still a big issue in the world of sports, g*y athletes are
being more widely accepted now. The problem of transgender athletes though is something that is still a hot topic.
A person who is transgender or transsexual is someone who was born a certain gender and then through hormone therapy and surgery, undergoes gender reassignment to become the opposite gender. The issue for sports is that sometimes when a man changes his gender
to become a woman, authorities and governing bodies might feel that he is still a man and has the strength and speed of a man and that makes it unfair to the female competitors that he or now she will compete against.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) take on the subject is that any transgender athlete who has had a s*x change operation and then undergone hormone replacement therapy for two years is then allowed to compete as the new gender. Even though this was
a landmark decision in the world of sports and among transgender athletes, it has been slow to spread. Other governing bodies have been slow to react and change their rules.
The recent case of Lana Lawless springs to mind at this point. Lana was born a man and went through life thinking she was a man, until depression set in and she started to have doubts. She went to see a therapist who said that she might actually think of
herself as a woman and not as a man. She underwent hormone therapy for two years and then had a s*x change operation and now is very happy as a woman. In 2007, Lawless entered the Long Drive Competition and won third place and brought herself a lot of media
attention. Recently she has tried to enter the LPGA tour and the Long Drive Competition but has not been allowed to. Due to this fact she is taking the organisers of both tournaments to court to try and reverse their decision. She simply wants to play golf
and says that medical tests will prove that she is a woman.
There was another high profile case in 1976, regarding transgender tennis player, Dr. Renee Richards. She had hormone replacement therapy and then s*x reassignment surgery and competed in the 1976 Olympic Games as a female tennis player. The IOC had tried
to get her to undertake a gender confirmation test but she had refused and won the legal case for not having to take it. She set a precedent for transgender athletes at the Olympic Games from that point forward.
We await the decision of Lana Lawless and whether she will be able to play in the LPGA anytime soon. It will be a shame to deny this talented female golfer the opportunity to pursue her dreams to become a top female golfer. It could be time that the LPGA
and other sporting organisations adopt the Olympic Committee’s stance on transgender athletes and then everyone will be happy. Maybe not everyone, because the conservative athletes and members of society will still protest, but in time maybe they too will
realise that these athletes simply want to play the game they love and nothing more.
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