Monica Roberts has a really terrific post, with much historical context, on her blog about transgender athletes.                  

I may be dating myself a bit (… gosh, what scary thought … ), but I remember quite well seeing — in B&W– the Press sisters many, many time on ABC’s Wide World Of Sports.

Monica brings up a number of interesting issues, such as …

Regarding transmen …

In the case of a post-puberty gender transition, the athlete must undergo complete genital surgery and get their gonads (their ovaries or testes) removed before they can compete. They also have to get legal recognition of their chosen gender, complete hormone therapy to minimize any sex-related advantages and wait two years before they can become eligible to apply for a confidential IOC evaluation.

While most transwomen are okay with the new [International Olympic Committee] policy, transmen understandably bristled at the genital reconstruction requirement. Jamison Green in a 2004 CNN.com interview criticized the genital reconstruction completion requirement.

“I don’t think that needs to be a criteria,” said Green, who sits on the board of directors of the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. “Many female-to-male people can’t afford to have genital reconstruction, so I think that’s an unreasonable penalty.”

That thought is echoed by Keelin Godsey(left in photo), who is a transgender track and field star at Bates College has a goal of making the US Olympic team and competing in Beijing next year. The transman is delaying his transition in order to make it happen.

… and …

Regarding “unfair advantage” …

Some of the issues against transgender athletes stem from ignorance or jealousy. In 1996 a Thai volleyball team made up primarily of gays and transgender people nicknamed the ‘Iron Ladies’ won the Thai national championship and was immortalized in two Thai films of the same name. Thai governnment officals barred two of the transpeople from joining the national team and competing internationally out of fears and concern for the country’s international image. Canadian mountain biker Michelle Dumaresq is constantly accused of having an ‘unfair advantage’ by biowomen especially afer she began to frequently win events on the Canadian mountain biking circuit.

The ‘unfair advantage’ argument is actually a bogus one and medical science is increasingly backing that up. Even though a transwomen grows up with testosterone coursing through her body, hormone replacement therapy takes the muscle building advantage away over time. A genetic female skeleton is lighter, so a transwoman has the handicap of lugging around basically a heavier skeleton with FEMALE musculature.

Read all of it here …

Transgender Athletes Get Into The Game