Trans woman sues for $2.5m after athletics event tells her to compete ‘as a man’
A trans woman is suing a fitness company for $2.5m (£1.5m), after being told she was not permitted to compete in a women’s athletics competition.
Chloie Jonnson, an athlete from California, underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2006 and is legally female, but CrossFit Games say she will have to compete in the men’s division, and that anyone who disagrees with them ‘either ignored or missed high school biology’.
According to TMZ, the company said in a letter: “Our decision has nothing to do with ‘ignorance’ or being bigots – it has to do with a very real understanding of the human genome, of fundamental biology, that you are either intentionally ignoring or missed in high school.”
“The fundamental, ineluctable fact is that a male competitor who has a sex reassignment procedure still has a genetic makeup that confers a physical and physiological advantage over women.”
Queerty reports that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s guidance disputes claims that trans women have a ‘biological advantage’ in sports.
The NCAA’s inclusion handbook states: “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.”
