Transgender Lana Lawless Suing LPGA for Right to Play
Lana Lawless is a 57 year old transgender woman who is suing the LPGA for the right to play in LPGA sanctioned events.
The LPGA policy states that a competitor must be “female at birth” to be eligible to play in LPGA events. They adopted this policy in the late 1970’s after Renee Richards successfully sued the USTA for the right to play in women’s professional tennis events.
In 2008, Lawless won the women’s division of an annual Long Drive competition with a 254 yard drive. The Long Drivers of America, who sponsor this competition has since changed their eligibility rule to match the LPGA’s “female at birth” requirement. Lana is suing them too.
The United States Golf Association, the Ladies Golf Union in Britain and the Ladies European Golf Tour have all adopted the International Olympic Committee policy which enables transgender women athletes to compete in women’s competitions if they meet several criteria, including competition of sex reassignment surgery, two years of hormone therapy and changing the sex designated on official identity documents. Mianne Bagger, another woman who has undergone gender transition, has been playing in Europe and Australia for several years without incident.
The LPGA has, despite some pressure to address the participation of transgender golfers, failed to change their policy, which specifically prohibits transgender women from competing in LPGA events. It was only a matter of time before this day came. The LPGA’s failure to address this issue proactively now means they will do it in the glare of media and in reaction to a lawsuit. Not the best way to consider policy change.
In an unexpected twist, Renee Richard, in an interview in the New York Times article, is ambivalent about whether or not she supports Lawless’ goal of playing in LPGA events. Richards believes that “physically strong” transgender women have an advantage over other women competitors and seems to think that decisions about whether or not transgender women should play should be made on a case by case basis. This reservation mirrors the IOC and IAAF policies on the participation of intersex women that were in effect when Caster Semenya’s eligibility to compete as a woman was challenged in the 2009 World Championships and then affirmed this fall. We have seen what a mess the “case by case” policy can be.
Having just spent the better part of a year working on a report that includes policy recommendations to colleges and high schools about the participation of transgender athletes, I have read a lot about and talked to several physicians about the question of whether or not transgender women athletes have an unfair physical advantage in women’s competition. We based our recommendations on the best information available at this time. We can only hope that this, and any other lawsuits like it, will also be decided on the basis of science and medical research and not on prejudice and fear. Time will tell.
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With that, it sounds as if you've already made your decision even before the medical evidence is in. I hope everyone remembers this thread when you dispute the eventual medical findings and resort to the "discrimintion" stance that will surely come next.
It's interesting that Renee Richard thinks that it should be on a case by case basis, since she's already on the inside and is enjoying the benefits of being a man competing against women.
I don't follow anyone, because those that appear to be on the same path usually end up just getting in my way.
Transgendered women are put on the same hormones to induce feminine traits the same as biological women.
So not they are not men. This is and can be altered through surgery.
After all we are made of cells and its the hormones that make the difference.
They can and are transformed. I applaud her for coming out and for trying to do something positive for all women. Not everyone is lucky to be born into the body that fits them. Many people are born without what they need in this world. Some can change others can not.
These transgender women feel act and look the same as real women. And some are physically superior in femininity.
Some possess a feminine stance that would put many of the natural females to shame.
And no I'm not transgendered I'm a 100% biological woman.
Its the fear and prejudice of society that says no we won't accept it. One day this will be the norm.
I think there are way bigger issues to worry about than whether or not some genderphobe likes what a person claims or wants to be.
Mistress Sennett
It's genes, not hormones, that define physical characteristics. Those genes define the maximum level of strength any particular individual may achieve. An unusually strong woman may very well be stronger than some men, but she will NEVER be as strong as an unusually strong man.
In the rare teritory where top athletes compete, women are not competitive against men. A top woman athlete is not competitive with even the lowest of the top 10% of male athletes. That just happens to be a fact of life that any objective person may easily observe and and verify, and which most people already recognize without having to think about it.
So, what is being discussed here is nothing more, and nothing less than cheating in a very sleezy fashion. Contrary to your absolutely absurd assertion, it is not a "positive for all women", it is a disgraceful slap in the face to women athletes everywhere.
Women athletes are not favored in most sports to begin with, and rarely enjoy the kind of support and training available to their male counterparts. They shed blood, sweat and tears to be the very best they can be, knowing all the while that no matter what they do, they will never be able to match their male counterparts. To gain any kind of recognition at all for their dedication to their sport, they compete in women's leagues, where they may play on a level field, where their excellence may be recognized against players in their own class.
Now you say all that hard work and dedication should be taken away from them by any man in drag? I say your contention is amoral at a level that doesn't need to be described beyond simply stating it. That man in drag may be the biggest loser in the world after a lifetime of competing against other men, but it's easy money if he can be the big fish in the small ponds of women's leagues.
That's cheating any way you look at it. Only an amoral, lowlife scumbag would even suggest it should be allowed. If he wants to pretend to be a woman in his private life, so be it. If he wants to compete in sports, he should do so on a level playing field against the other men that his genes say he is, not against women who were never the genetic heirs to his own bone and muscle structure.
First and foremost, it is ludicrious to recognize these people as women; legally, culturally, or any other way. They are men. They are still men after cosmetic surgery. They are still men after taking drugs and putting on dresses.
Men are stronger than women. That is the reason the Olympics has separate events for men and women.
What if some communist country came in next year to sweep up the gold in women's competitions by having last year's male contestents show up in drag after the communist state's surgeons had a go at them?
The whole thing is sheer idiocy. The case should be dismissed, with stiff sanctions for filing a frivolous suit, and the lawyer who filed it should be disbarred.
If your a woman trapped in a mans' body, you're still in a mans' body. Equality is a fickle thing.
I don't follow anyone, because those that appear to be on the same path usually end up just getting in my way.