New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will become the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics after being selected for the women’s super-heavyweight 87+kg category at the Tokyo Games next month.
Hubbard’s selection is fuelling a fierce global debate about whether trans women should be allowed to compete in women’s sporting events, and – if they are – what the rules should be.
Trans rights campaigners say excluding trans athletes is discriminatory and will stoke bias against trans people in general, but critics say trans women athletes have an unfair physical advantage in women’s competitions.
The issue has been at the heart of a culture war in the United States between conservatives and supporters of U.S. President Joe Biden’s push for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion.
WHY HAS CONTROVERSY GROWN?
As more people come out as trans, the participation of trans women in women’s sport has increasingly been called into question, including by well-known sports stars.
Tennis champion Martina Navratilova said last year the physical advantages for trans women competitors who had gone through male puberty were “pretty obvious“.
Hubbard’s gold medal wins at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, where she topped the podium ahead of Samoa’s Commonwealth Games champion Feagaiga Stowers, caused outrage in the host nation.
Hubbard, who will be the oldest lifter at the Games at 43, competed in men’s weightlifting competitions before transitioning in 2013.
Two years later, she became eligible to compete at the Olympics in women’s events in line with guidelines issued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC advises sporting bodies to let trans women athletes compete in women’s events if their testosterone levels remain below a certain threshold for at least a year. Trans men face no restrictions.
REPORTING BY RACHEL SAVAGE
GAY TIMES and Openly/Thomson Reuters Foundation are working together to deliver leading LGBTQ+ news to a global audience.
The post Why are US states banning transgender women from sport? appeared first on GAY TIMES.
Why are US states banning transgender women from sport?
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will become the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics after being selected for the women’s super-heavyweight 87+kg category at the Tokyo Games next month.
Hubbard’s selection is fuelling a fierce global debate about whether trans women should be allowed to compete in women’s sporting events, and – if they are – what the rules should be.
Trans rights campaigners say excluding trans athletes is discriminatory and will stoke bias against trans people in general, but critics say trans women athletes have an unfair physical advantage in women’s competitions.
The issue has been at the heart of a culture war in the United States between conservatives and supporters of U.S. President Joe Biden’s push for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion.
WHY HAS CONTROVERSY GROWN?
As more people come out as trans, the participation of trans women in women’s sport has increasingly been called into question, including by well-known sports stars.
Tennis champion Martina Navratilova said last year the physical advantages for trans women competitors who had gone through male puberty were “pretty obvious“.
Hubbard’s gold medal wins at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, where she topped the podium ahead of Samoa’s Commonwealth Games champion Feagaiga Stowers, caused outrage in the host nation.
Hubbard, who will be the oldest lifter at the Games at 43, competed in men’s weightlifting competitions before transitioning in 2013.
Two years later, she became eligible to compete at the Olympics in women’s events in line with guidelines issued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC advises sporting bodies to let trans women athletes compete in women’s events if their testosterone levels remain below a certain threshold for at least a year. Trans men face no restrictions.
REPORTING BY RACHEL SAVAGE
GAY TIMES and Openly/Thomson Reuters Foundation are working together to deliver leading LGBTQ+ news to a global audience.
The post Why are US states banning transgender women from sport? appeared first on GAY TIMES.
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