justinssportscorner

[justinssportscorner]

A groundbreaking study that was sponsored by the International Olympic Committee and released late last week sought to compare a range of athletic abilities between trans athletes and their cisgender counterparts. The finding that trans women athletes are at a relative disadvantage in many key physical areas relating to athletic ability and perform worse on cardiovascular tests than their cisgender counterparts could be the first step in fighting back against the conventional wisdom conservatives have spread that trans women’s participation is inherently unfair. Over the last several years, few anti-LGBTQ policies have taken off as quickly within mainstream politics as those banning trans women and girls from women’s and girls’ sports. Prompted by the success of trans college swimmer Lia Thomas, who won a national championship during her senior year, dozens of conservative states and sports administrators rushed headlong into outright bans on trans women’s rights to participate equally in sports. The political argument seemed simple; natural, even. We all know men are superior athletes to women, conservatives argued, so allowing trans women to compete with women would be inherently unfair. Because it  felt like common sense to a lot of people, it made for a compelling political argument. But the study that the IOC commissioned, and the University of Brighton conducted, found that while trans women are stronger in some respects, like grip strength, cis women have stronger lower bodies. The study also found that trans women have a similar bone density as their cis women counterparts, which rebuts a frequent refrain from conservatives who’ve argued otherwise to justify banning trans girls and women from sports. All the participants in this study participated in competitive sports or took part in physical training at least three times a week. The 35 trans athletes had to have completed at least one consecutive year of hormone replacement therapy. It’s just one study, so we should avoid drawing grand conclusions from it, but, at the very least, the study shows that the bodies of trans women who’ve been on at least one year of hormone replacement therapy are very, very different from cis men’s bodies. In their conclusion, researchers cautioned against hurdling into blanket bans on trans women’s participation in women’s sports and declared that using data comparing cis men and cis women’s bodies to justify these bans is wrong. It has become commonplace for anti-trans campaigners to make arguments against trans participation in sports by citing the difference between cis men’s and cis women’s bodies; in other words, pretending that trans women’s bodies are identical to those of cis men’s. [...] Then again, the trans athlete debate has never really been about fairness or safety in women’s sports. It’s always been about putting laws on the books that legally define trans women as men as a precedent for passing more anti-trans laws unrelated to sports. So this research will likely not make a difference in red state legislatures.

Katelyn Burns for MSNBC.com on the new study partially backed by the IOC that refutes anti-trans claims about trans athletes (04.22.2024)

Katelyn Burns wrote an opinion column on MSNBC.com pushing back against the anti-trans justifications used to ban trans women in women's sports, as a new study funded partially by the IOC published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine reveals that that trans athletes are at a disadvantage compared to their cisgender counterparts.

See Also:

PinkNews: Trans athletes could actually be physically disadvantaged in some areas, IOC-backed study finds

LGBTQ Nation: Trans women athletes may actually have disadvantages compared to cis women

#Katelyn Burns #MSNBC.com #Transgender Sports #Transgender #Sports #IOC #Hormone Replacement Therapy #HRT #LGBTQ+ #University of Brighton #British Journal of Sports Medicine

[justinssportscorner]

Gideon Taaffe and Charis Hoard at MMFA:

Instead of celebrating the rising influence of women’s basketball, right-wing media seized on the highly anticipated draft to attack the WNBA and dismiss the low wages of some of basketball’s biggest stars.  After a historic women’s NCAA tournament, the Women’s National Basketball Association draft drew substantial media attention both praising the rising influence of the league and criticizing the low wages of the league’s stars. Right-wing media chose to denigrate the sport and its players rather than engage with critiques of how women athletes are treated.

With the WNBA's popularity surging due to several college megastars such as Caitlin Clark being drafted, right-wing media launched unhinged sexist attacks against the league (and women's sports in general). These same people attacking the WNBA and women's sports launch attacks against trans women participating in women's sports under the purported guise of "saving women's sports."

#Women's Sports #Sexism #WNBA #Caitlin Clark #Matt Walsh #Clay Travis #Dan Dakich #Jason Whitlock #Tom Shillue #Blain Crain #Alex Berenson #Liz Wheeler #Outkick #FNC #The Daily Wire #Gender Pay Gap #Women's College Basketball #NCAAW

[justinssportscorner]

Li Zhou at Vox:

Caitlin Clark, a college basketball phenom and the top pick at Monday’s WNBA draft, will make a staggeringly low salary in her rookie year compared to her NBA counterpart. Despite her record-breaking performance in the NCAA and the energy that she’s generated for the sport, Clark’s base salary will be $76,535 as a rookie. In the NBA, meanwhile, the first draft pick is expected to make roughly $10.5 million in base salary their first year.

Players like Clark, who was picked by the Indiana Fever Monday night after multiple blockbuster seasons as a point guard for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, and former Louisiana State University forward Angel Reese, who was signed by the Chicago Sky, have helped women’s college basketball achieve a landmark year. For the first time ever, the women’s final March Madness game, which drew as many as 24 million viewers, surpassed the viewership of the men’s final. “It’s been catapulted this year to a whole new level,” says University of Michigan sports management professor Ketra Armstrong. “People are tuning in to the WNBA draft that never had before.” The fresh attention for the WNBA draft, however, is also spotlighting the problems the league has had with pay equity. For years, the WNBA’s salaries have lagged the NBA’s by a massive margin. That’s due in part to the leagues’ differences in revenue and season lengths. But other factors, like differences in collective bargaining agreements and revenue-sharing, also play a big role. [...]

The pay-gap problem is bigger than any one player

Despite her record-breaking performance in the NCAA and the energy that she’s generated for the sport, Clark will earn less than 1 percent of what her male counterpart will make in her first year. She will be able to supplement her salary through endorsement and marketing deals, but even with those, her estimated earnings will be lower than the base salary of a first-round NBA pick. Clark isn’t alone. WNBA star Brittney Griner — who spent months jailed in Russia — spoke about the reason she played abroad in the offseason, and noted that a big part of it was to supplement her income: “I’ll say this ... the whole reason a lot of us go over is the pay gap,” she said at a press conference in April 2023. In 2023, a WNBA player made a $113,295 base salary on average, while an NBA player made an average base salary of $9.7 million. The NBA’s much larger revenue is part of the reason for this discrepancy: It takes in an estimated $10 billion annually, compared to the WNBA, which has been projected to bring in roughly $200 million. Its season is also about twice the length of the WNBA’s, including 82 games compared to 40 games. Those factors alone, however, don’t tell the full story.

It's a grotesque insult that WNBA stars (and potential stars) such as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Brittney Griner are appallingly underpaid compared to their male counterparts in the NBA.

The large gender pay gap between WNBA and NBA players is why WNBA players choose to play in overseas leagues during that league's offseason to supplement their income.

#WNBA #NBA #Gender Pay Gap #Income Inequality #WNBA Draft #2024 WNBA Draft #Caitlin Clark #Angel Reese #Women's Sports #Basketball

[justinssportscorner]

Molly Sprayregen at LGBTQ Nation:

An anti-trans website devoted to denigrating trans women athletes seems to believe that trans women even have advantages in sports like darts, poker, esports, and yes, hot dog eating contests. SheWon.org, which purports to be entirely volunteer-run, provides a list of cisgender women athletes and the victories they allegedly would have secured in various competitions had a trans woman not beaten them.

This list includes Nathan’s Famous 2021 July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest, which occurs annually at New York’s Coney Island. The SheWon list names three women who would have come in first, second, and third place (rather than 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) had the actual winner, competitive eater Michelle Lesco, not won first place. The kicker: Lesco is not even transgender. There have long been rumors about her gender identity, which likely stemmed from a 2021 podcast in which Australian football player Sam Newman mocked Lesco for being trans, though it’s unclear where he got that information. But on Wednesday, Lesco responded to a post on X about the list to confirm her cisgender identity. “Just goes to show that people are more than willing to spread misinformation if it feeds outrage and vitriol,” she wrote before identifying herself as the 2021 winner and a “biological female.”

SheWon.org has been getting some attention as of late. Anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), posted a link to it on X and claimed that it highlights the wins that were “stolen from female athletes because of biological men wrongfully competing in women’s sports.” In reality, women’s sports are harmed far more by sexism and unequal funding.

Right-wing anti-trans extremists such as SheWon.org push the baseless claim that trans women have an "unfair advantage" in hot dog-eating contests.

#SheWon.org #Transphobia #Anti Trans Extremism #Sports #Transgender Sports #Women's Sports #Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest #Hot Dogs #Michelle Lesco

[justinssportscorner]

RIP Whitey Herzog. #STLCards #ForTheLou

#Whitey Herzog #St. Louis Cardinals #MLB #Obituaries

[justinssportscorner]

Arsenal blow it again.

Arsenal embarrassed themselves and hurt their title hopes with their 2-0 capitulation to Aston Villa. This is their first PL loss since the blown 1-0 lead to Fulham in which they lost 2-1 on NYE. Manchester City now have the top spot.

#Arsenal FC #Arsenal #Premier League

[justinssportscorner]

Robert Dineen at The Telegraph:

Transgender female athletes are at a physical disadvantage compared to cisgender women in several key metrics, research funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has found. The landmark study reported that physically active transgender women performed worse in certain cardiovascular tests and had less lower-body strength than their cisgender females. Researchers at the University of Brighton also found that, contrary to previous claims, transgender women’s bone density was equivalent to cisgender females. Bone density is linked to muscle strength. The research paper, which has been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, could have a significant effect on the debate around gender-inclusion in sport.

It is the first research relating to the issue that the IOC has funded and is the first scientific study of “athletes” who have undergone gender-affirming hormone therapy. The authors, who included a member of the IOC’s medical and scientific commission, said their results showed that sporting federations should caution against banning transgender women from the female category without further research into their individual sports. “While longitudinal transitioning studies of transgender athletes are urgently needed, these results should caution against precautionary bans and sport eligibility exclusions that are not based on sport-specific (or sport-relevant) research,” the paper said in its conclusions. They added that the research could be used to inform policy-making at a time when several sports have excluded transgender women from the female category – including athletics, swimming and cycling – but could not on its own provide the basis for decisions.

How the study worked

Designed to examine the effect of transitioning from male to female and vice versa among physically active subjects, the study collected data from 69 volunteers, who had responded to social-media adverts seeking participants in the research.

The cohort comprised 19 transgender women, 20 cisgender women, 19 cisgender men and 11 transgender men. To qualify for the study, they had to be taking part in competitive sport or physical training at least three times a week. The transgender volunteers needed to have undergone hormonal therapy for at least a year. None of the subjects were competing in national or international sport. They were assessed across three categories: cardio-respiratory fitness, strength and body composition. Researchers found that transgender women performed worse than cisgender women in the countermovement jump that tests lower-body strength. It involves jumping vertically with hands on the hips. Transgender women’s average jump was 36.4cm with a standard deviation (SD) of 7.9cm. Cisgender women’s average was 40.7cm with a SD of 5.8cm.

Cisgender women also performed worse in an important test of lung function called the FEV1/FVC ratio, which compares subjects’ Forced Expiratory Volume with their Forced Vital Capacity. The former is the maximum amount of air that is expelled during the first second following a deep inhalation. The latter represents the volume of air that can be exhaled following a deep inhalation and is a measurement of lung size. Transgender women had a lower FEV1, leading to a lower FEV1/FVC ratio of 0.83, with a SD of 0.07, compared to 0.88 and a SD of 0.04 for cisgender women. This, the study says, represents a significant difference and could adversely affect transgender women’s athletic performance. There was no meaningful difference between the two groups’ haemoglobin profiles and bone density – both of which are related to athletic performance – even though, the researchers noted, previous studies of sedentary subjects found that transgender women performed better in both.

The IOC released a study that trans women are at a physical disadvantage compared to cisgender women.

#IOC #Olympics #Transgender Sports #Transgender #Women #Women's Sports #British Journal of Sports Medicine

[justinssportscorner]

Emily Kaplan at ESPN:

Arizona Coyotes players were informed Friday that the team is relocating to Utah, sources told ESPN, confirming a report by PHNX Sports. Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong met with the players ahead of their game against the Edmonton Oilers to confirm what had been rumored all week: that the NHL is working to facilitate a sale to Ryan and Ashley Smith, owners of the Utah Jazz. The Coyotes will begin playing there next season. The NHL and Smith's group have been working on a deal, but sources told ESPN on Friday night that nothing was done yet, and there was plenty of work to go before the deal was finalized. An announcement is expected next week, at the conclusion of the NHL regular season, sources told ESPN.

Coyotes players and staff members will be invited to visit Salt Lake City after their season finale to check out the city and facilities. The plan is for the team to play at the Delta Center, which is owned by Smith and is also home to the NBA's Jazz. However, sources told ESPN that the NHL has made clear to the Smiths that a hockey-specific upgrade is needed at the Delta Center in order to become the team's permanent home.

The players on the Arizona Coyotes roster have been told that they'll be relocating to Salt Lake City in Utah, effective next season.

#NHL Relocation #NHL #Arizona Coyotes #Arizona #Utah #Salt Lake City Utah #Salt Lake City #Salt Lake City NHL Team

[justinssportscorner]

LGBTQ Nation:

Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines has been on a tear since champion NCAA women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley voiced support for trans athletes ahead of her team winning the national championship game. [...] As Staley predicted, the right is incensed over her comments. Gaines – who has built an entire career over the fact that she tied for fifth place with a trans woman during an NCAA swimming competition – appeared on Fox News to say Staley is either “entirely incompetent or a sellout” despite her stellar record as a coach. “I don’t think she believes what she said,” Gaines claimed, adding that Staley appeared to hesitate as she spoke to reporters and positing that the fact that she took a drink of water while speaking “spoke volumes.”

Gaines then continued by explaining that men’s and women’s basketball are played differently, clearly implying her belief that trans women are not real women. “I think she knew she had to be politically correct… But the bottom line is she knows that men’s basketball, it’s a totally different sport than women’s basketball… She didn’t have the courage to stand with women. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her, and she blew it.” In a follow-up post on X, Gaines said she stands by her words “3000%” and continued to praise herself, declaring, “I hit the nail on the head.” “Personally, I think she’s a sellout. I also think she’s a dang good coach. 109-3 over three seasons is unheard of. She can be both at the same time. Neither is mutually exclusive.”

Appearing on Fox and Friends Monday, Outkick host and anti-trans extremist Riley Gaines calls 3x NCAA Women's Basketball champion South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley a "sellout" for supporting the inclusion of trans women in women's sports.

From the 04.08.2024 edition of FNC's Fox and Friends:

#Outkick #Riley Gaines #Dawn Staley #Transphobia #Transgender Sports #2024 Women's March Madness Tournament #Women's College Basketball #College Basketball #South Carolina Gamecocks #FNC #Fox and Friends #Brian Kilmeade

[justinssportscorner]

Steph Whiteside at NewsNation:

(NewsNation) — The family of former NFL player O.J. Simpson announced he died from cancer Wednesday. They said Simpson was surrounded by his children and grandchildren when he died.

In his last tweet Feb. 10, Simpson said he had health challenges but indicated he was recovering. “My health is good. I mean, obviously I’m dealing with some issues but hey, I think I’m just about over it and I’ll be back on that golf course hopefully in a couple of weeks!” he wrote. Orenthal James Simpson, also known as “Juice” on the field, was an award-winning football player who played 11 seasons in the NFL. However, his athletic success was overshadowed by accusations he killed his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Simpson was acquitted in a criminal trial but found liable in a civil trial. He later spent time in prison after being charged with armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas.

In a statement, the family of Ron Goldman said Simpson ‘died without penance.’ Marcia Clark, who prosecuted Simpson in the criminal trial, expressed her condolences to the Simpson family. Born in 1947 and raised in San Francisco, Simpson played college football for the University of Southern California Trojans, winning the Heisman Trophy his senior year. He was a first-round draft pick for the Buffalo Bills, breaking records and winning a regular season MVP award. He later played for the San Francisco 49ers and retired after 11 seasons in the NFL. After retiring, he pursued an acting career.

OJ Simpson murder trial

In 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson, O.J. Simpson’s second wife, and Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles condo. O.J. Simpson, who had previously pled no contest to domestic violence charges against Brown, was identified by police as a person of interest early on. Days later, Simpson told police he would turn himself in after a warrant was issued for his arrest. However, he led police on a low-speed chase through Los Angeles in his white Ford Bronco. The chase was broadcast live on national television. Simpson’s trial for the murders of Brown and Goldman came during a period of significant racial tension in the Los Angeles area, coming just a few years after the beating of Rodney King sparked riots. Due to Simpson’s fame, the trial attracted major media attention, with witnesses and other participants being offered large amounts of money to share their stories.

Former NFL player and murderer O.J. Simpson dies at 76 with cancer.

#O.J. Simpson #Nicole Brown Simpson #O.J. Simpson Trial #College Football #Ron Goldman #NFL #Heisman Trophy #Obituaries #Cancer

[justinssportscorner]

Dennis Dodd at CBS Sports:

Athletes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) will only be allowed to compete in women's sports if they were assigned the female gender at birth, the national small-college organization announced Monday. 

The NAIA's Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 20-0 vote Monday morning after a December survey indicated widespread support for the move. The association's previous policy only applied to postseason competition. The new directive applies to all NAIA competitions. The NAIA is a national athletic governing body for 249 mostly small colleges across the country that are not part of the NCAA's three divisions of competition. The membership is 80% private schools. This decision does not apply to NCAA competitions. "We know there are a lot of different opinions out there," NAIA president Jim Carr told CBS Sports. "For us, we believed our first responsibility was to create fairness and competition in the NAIA. ... We also think it aligns with the reasons Title IX was created. You're allowed to have separate but equal opportunities for women to compete." The NAIA is believed to be the first national college governing body to mandate that athletes compete according to assigned sex at birth. 

According to Pew Research Center, 1.6% of U.S. adults are transgender or nonbinary. The NAIA has no knowledge of transgender athletes competing in its postseasons to this point, Carr said.  According to the NAIA's new policy (which is included in full below), in addition to ruling out athletes that were assigned male at birth, the policy blocks those who were assigned female but have begun masculinizing hormone therapy to transition to women. All NAIA athletes who are no longer eligible for women's competition could still participate in men's sports, Carr said.  "It's important to know that the male sports are open to anyone," he added.    The policy doesn't apply to team activities like practices, exhibition games and scrimmages. 

The NAIA's decision to ban trans women from competing in women's sports from all its competitions (expanded from a postseason-only ban) is purely about transphobia and zero to do with competitive fairness. The NAIA currently has ZERO trans athletes competing.

#NAIA #Transgender Sports #Sports #Women's Sports #Transgender #Title IX #College Sports

[justinssportscorner]

Reed McMaster at MMFA:

Fox Corp.-owned sports outlet OutKick’s coverage of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament was full of misogynist attacks and chauvinist assumptions. The outlet targeted star players including Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, criticizing their skills compared to high school boys, attacking their character, and dismissing complaints that they were being “sexualized.” OutKick founder Clay Travis also took aim at positive coverage of women’s college basketball, accusing outlets reporting on the growth of women’s sports of engaging in “identity politics” instead of sports coverage. These latest attacks fit OutKick’s long-running pattern of criticizing women’s sports and prominent athletes, including Megan Rapinoe, Simone Biles, and Billie Jean King.

Outkick, Fox Corporation's right-wing sports vertical, has spent the 2024 March Madness attacking women's sports and their athletes, furthering proof that these jagoffs don't care about women's sports except as a cudgel to attack trans women participating in women sports.

#Outkick #Sports Media #Clay Travis #Outkick The Show #Transgender Sports #Women's Sports #NCAA Women's Basketball #2024 Women's March Madness Tournament #Women's College Basketball #Women's March Madness Tournament #Caitlin Clark #Angel Reese #Sexism #Basketball #David Hookstead #Joe Kinsey #College Sports

[justinssportscorner]

Katie Barnes at ESPN.com:

CLEVELAND -- South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley said Saturday that she believes transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women's sports. During a news conference a day after her No. 1 Gamecocks beat NC State in the Final Four to advance to the national championship game against Iowa, the legendary coach was asked for her opinion on the issue. "I'm of the opinion that if you're a woman, you should play," Staley said. "If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports, or vice versa, you should be able to play." Hours later, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was asked the same question. "I understand it's a topic that people are interested in," Bluder said. "But today my focus is on the game tomorrow, my players. It's an important game we have tomorrow, and that's what I want to be here to talk about. But I know it's an important issue for another time." The debate over whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in accordance with their gender identity has grown heated in statehouses, courthouses, sport governing bodies and the court of public opinion over the past four years.

The NCAA first adopted a policy governing transgender athlete participation in 2010, providing a pathway to participation for transgender women and men in accordance with their gender identities. It amended its policy on Jan. 19, 2022 to be sport-specific as determined by each sport's national governing body, international federation or the 2015 Olympic standard. That policy change came amid controversy surrounding University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who was competing in women's swimming and won a national championship in the 500-yard freestyle. The NCAA currently requires transgender women wanting to compete in women's sports to submit documentation, including testosterone levels, to the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. The committee's medical review panel determines eligibility.

South Carolina Gamecocks women's college basketball coach Dawn Staley is 100% correct: trans women should be able to play in women's sports competitions (and vice-versa for trans men in men's sports). 🏳️‍⚧️

#Dawn Staley #South Carolina Gamecocks #2024 Women's March Madness Tournament #Women's Sports #Women's College Basketball #Women's March Madness Tournament #Transgender Sports #Transgender #LGBTQ+ #Iowa Hawkeyes #Lisa Bluders

[justinssportscorner]

Liza Monroy for Assigned Media:

Sasha Jane Lowerson, the only publicly known trans-woman competing in professional surfing, is the first trans-woman to win a female longboarding competition—which also means she has solely borne the brunt of online hatred from trolls who follow the surf world, as well as anti-trans industry figureheads like Bethany Hamilton.  Hamilton, the devout Christian champion surfer famed for losing her arm in a shark attack age 13, has been making anti-trans comments publicly since the World Surf League adopted  a policy requiring trans-female athletes to maintain a testosterone level of less than five nmol/L for at least 12 months in order to compete in the women’s division. Most recently, Hamilton and swimmer Riley Gaines embarked on a tour to promote their agenda. For a brief moment, a possibility of change flickered: international surf corporation Rip Curl, purveyor of wetsuits, apparel, and swimwear, released a documentary ad featuring Lowerson in the 2024 “Summer Looks Good on You” campaign, a long-running Rip Curl Womens series. 

Rip Curl also sponsored Hamilton, at the time. “I didn’t want anything to do with a company that supported someone like that,” Lowerson says of when they first approached her. In thinking about it further, though, she reconsidered. The fact that they had approached her could mean “they’re distancing themselves from those attitudes and that stigma, from misinformation and the spread of hate. So I said yes.”  Lowerson has spent over thirty-five years in the industry as a longboarder, including as a sponsored surfer. Longboarding uses a board typically longer than 9 feet where the sport is more about style, flow, and grace and allows for more of a platform for the dance than the fast, highly maneuverable shortboards typically seen in pro-surfing. She’s currently an Ambassador for Athlete Ally, an organization working for LGBTQI+ inclusion in sport, and to end transphobia and homophobia. 

In her video, the phenomenal longboarder discusses how surfing has influenced her life and the joy she finds in riding waves. “I believe it’s the only sport where we get to perform on a changing platform, a moving dance floor,” she says. The video, an artful mini-documentary focused on Lowerson’s love of her sport, appeared online on January 24th of this year.  On January 29th, Hamilton tweeted  “Male-bodied athletes should not be competing in female sports,” targeting Lowerson. Then, on January 31st, six days after Lowerson’s ad was posted, Rip Curl pulled the ad, appeasing the anti-trans side. They released this statement soon after their decision:

[...]

The head of the campaign, Lowerson says, “told me, ‘we’re removing the post for your safety, Sasha.’ And I turned around and said to him, ‘that’s bullshit, you’re doing this for brand protection.’ I’m not stupid; my safety’s not a consideration. I’m so disappointed for believing that a major corporation as big as Rip Curl would stick by this sort of campaign with someone of a diverse gender. It was stupid to think they cared. I feel so hurt from that.” Rip Curl made a decision not to support and stand behind the athlete. Lowerson points out other situations that have included trans-women in previously only cis- woman spaces - the modeling industry in particular, she says, “Victoria’s Secret - they were the first to put trans women on the catwalk. Their response to backlash was after having one trans woman on the catwalk, the next time there were three and the time after that, five. There’s trans women on more catwalks than ever in fashion shows these days.” The affair left Lowerson with unanswered questions. Why didn’t the surf industry respond more like the modeling industry? Why didn’t Rip Curl double down, start featuring more trans-surfers?  “I have not had a financial sponsor in so many years,” Lowerson says.

Brennan of Surf Equity is concerned that the trend towards “prohibiting trans athletes from competition has been growing.” She senses “frustration across all these different sports that at some points things were moving in a more positive direction, and now it's just really awful. There's a lot of anger, frustration, and heartbreak, and people coming together on the question of what to do. Activists and lawyers who work in that space are just running into so many roadblocks. I tried to understand the psychology of why we are in this situation. There's a fear of getting involved in the politics of it because that can result in death, frankly. Pretty severe consequences to activists being public. There are just so many considerations.”  In the aftermath of the ad’s removal, Lowerson traveled to California and connected with surfboard shaper Mando, owner of Mando Surf Co in the Monterey Bay area, who is nonbinary. They’re launching two key collaborations: releasing a Sasha Jane signature model surfboard under the Mando label, and working on the soon-to-be nonprofit, GNDR Surf. 

Trans female surfer Sasha Jane Lowerson was all set to do an ad for Rip Curl… only for it to be scuppered, thanks to anti-trans extremists such as Bethany Hamilton and Riley Gaines.

#Transgender Sports #Transgender #Rip Curl #Bethany Hamilton #Riley Gaines #Sasha Jane Lowerson #World Surf League #Surfboarding #LGBTQ+ #Athlete Ally #Mando Surf Co #Mando #Surf Equity

[justinssportscorner]

Mira Lazine at LGBTQ Nation:

The ex-president of the fashion brand Levi’s and professional athlete, Jennifer Sey, recently launched a new anti-trans clothing brand known as XX-XY Athletics. The brand is reportedly dedicated to “protecting women’s sports.” The brand advertises itself on its newly launched website as promoting women’s sports, going into the subject of transgender inclusion by saying that “men and women are different. It’s just a fact.” The site goes on to suggest that those born with XY chromosomes have an innate, biological advantage in sports – something without academic consensus – before continuing “it is simply unfair and dangerous at times, to allow males (XY) to compete in girls and women’s (XX chromosomes) sports.” [...]

Multiple anti-trans figures have been made ambassadors of the brand, including college swimmers Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan, as well as detransitioner Chloe Cole. Sey has made headlines for her controversial opinions in the past. She has supported gender-critical views on the validity of transgender people, as well as promoting the view that schools should stay open during the coronavirus pandemic. Sey’s new line vastly differs from Levi’s approach to the LGBTQ+ community, which has consistently been respectful for decades. Levi’s was the first major U.S. company to provide domestic partner benefits; it has made donations to the HRC, OutRight Action International, and other queer-allied organizations to help support LGBTQ+ communities; and has publicly opposed anti-LGBTQ+ actions taken by the administration of President Donald Trump.

XX-XY Athletics launched with the assistance of an article in Forbes which presented a very sympathetic portrait of the company as a defender of women’s sports. The article used language and phrasing seen most commonly from those critical of transgender people, such as referring to transgender women as “biological males.” “I looked around at all the athletic brands in the marketplace and they make much ado about celebrating women, but not one has said ‘We need to protect women’s sports,’” Sey said to Forbes. “Not a single brand is doing it. We are going to make world-class, best-in-class athletic apparel for women and men. And we’re staking a claim around protecting women’s sports. We believe it will resonate with men as well who are invested in protecting their daughters,” she further detailed.

[...] The Mary Sue published an article critical of the clothing brand, criticizing much of the offered apparel for a lack of inclusivity for various different body types in addition to the views expressed on the website and by the founder. Levi’s has not responded to a request for comment from LGBTQ Nation. This article will be updated if they do respond.

Jennifer Sey, the former Levi's brand president, has launched an explicitly anti-trans clothing line called XX-XY Athletics that purports to support "protecting women's sports."

Anti-trans influencers such as Chloe Cole and Riley Gaines have been made brand ambassadors, furthering the brand's anti-trans inclusion in women's sports mission.

#Jennifer Sey #Riley Gaines #Chloe Cole #Paula Scanlan #Anti Trans Extremism #XX XY Athletics #Levi's #Women's Sports

[justinssportscorner]

Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

Olympic athlete and reality television star – as well as failed California gubernatorial candidate – Caitlyn Jenner is back in the spotlight for her attacks on transgender equality. Jenner showed up at a press conference yesterday alongside Nassau County, New York Executive Bruce Blakeman (R), who earlier this month banned transgender girls and women from competing in county sports facilities. State Attorney General Letitia James (D) has already told him to rescind his order because it violates state anti-discrimination law, and he responded by suing James. “When it comes to athletics participation with the biological sex, you have to compete in the biological sex that you were born,” Jenner said at yesterday’s press conference. “This is critical to protecting the integrity of competition in women’s sports.” “Let’s stop it now while we can,” she added. She explained that she does support LGBTQ+ rights but “it’s not like this is a big issue. It’s more of an issue of protecting women’s sports.”

[...]

Then she mocked trans women for saying that they’re women. “I consider myself a trans person, I am still genetically male, I changed all of my ID right down to my birth certificate so technically yes, I am female, but on the other hand I know I’m not,” Jenner said.

Other trans women, Jenner said, “keep saying, ‘Oh, I’m a real woman, I’m a real woman,’ and I’m going, ‘No, you’re not.’ I will use your preferred pronouns, I will treat you as a female, you can run and dress and do whatever you want, I have nothing against that, it’s fine, but biologically you’re still male.” “The [transgender people] online would probably disagree with me and all the rest would probably agree… you have the ones that want to get the clicks and they will be brutal with you. I feel sorry for those people who have that much hate inside them.” Jenner has long opposed equal rights for transgender people. In fact, opposing trans girls’ right to an equal education when it comes to school sports was the first position that she took in her doomed campaign for California governor. Late last year, she told British anti-trans actor John Cleese that trans women aren’t real women.

Trans woman quisling Caitlyn Jenner pushes the transphobic talking point that trans women aren't real women and backs bans on trans women competing in women's sports.

#Caitlyn Jenner #Transgender Sports #Bruce Blakeman #Transgender #Anti Trans Extremism #Nassau County New York #New York

[justinssportscorner]

Karleigh Webb at Outsports:

A group of 16 female student-athletes filed a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA to the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia Thursday in regards to the NCAA’s transgender student-athlete inclusion policies and regulations. The suit seeks a total ban of transgender women in all NCAA sports, and also demands that all titles and positions won by transgender women are retroactively revoked. The suit was organized by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, who also have ties to a number of conservative anti-trans organizations. At the top of list of athletes who are part of the suit is former University of Kentucky swimmer-turned anti-trans activist Riley Gaines.

Since tying for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle event with former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas at the NCAA Division I Swimming Championships in 2022, Gaines has become a face of this issue. Thomas, who became first transgender woman student-athlete to win an individual NCAA Division I title during those championships, has been the centerpiece of opposing concerns about the NCAA policy. The filing itself mirrored several of Gaines’ speeches, and some of the accusations she has personally made against Lia Thomas over the last two years. “The NCAA imposed a radical anti-woman agenda on college sports,” the filing states. “Reinterpreting Title IX to define women as a testosterone level, permitting men to compete on women’s teams, and destroying female safe spaces in women’s locker rooms.” [...]

Plaintiffs include various college student-athletes

Other plaintiffs in the suit include former Virginia Tech swimmer Réka György. She was 17th in the 500-yard freestyle event at the 2022 NCAA Championships. She claims that Lia Thomas, who won the national championship in that same event, unfairly kept her out of the consolation final. “That final spot was taken away from me because of the NCAA’s decision to let someone who is not a biological female compete,” György stated in a letter to the NCAA in March 2022 that was reprinted in the filing, “It hurts me, my team and other women in the pool.”

A group of 6 swimmers from Roanoke College (Va.) also signed on. Prior to the start of the 2023-2024 season, a number of members of their team staged a public demonstration, with Gaines in attendance, after a prospective trans women student-athlete petitioned join the team. The student withdrew their request prior to the demonstration. The NCAA hasn’t responded publicly, but this lawsuit comes with further changes in the NCAA policy ahead. In the 2024-2025 academic year, each NCAA sport will cede to the policies set by either their respective national or world governing bodies to decide the eligibility of transgender women. In the cases of swimming and track and field, transgender women will be banned from competition in women’s NCAA sports because that is the policies of World Aquatics and World Athletics.

16 female NCAA athletes, including Riley Gaines, Kaitlynn Wheeler, Réka György, and Ainsley Erzen, filed a class action lawsuit against the NCAA to demand a total ban on trans women in NCAA sports and retroactive revocation of all titles and positions obtained by trans women in NCAA competitions.

The Gaines v. NCAA suit is being organized by anti-trans inclusion group Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), and the suit erroneously claims trans-inclusive policies violate Title IX. The Gaines v. NCAA lawsuit is nothing more than a transphobic temper tantrum by Mrs. 5th Place Crybaby.

See Also:

Sportico: NCAA TRANS POLICY, TITLE IX SUIT MAY HINDER CONGRESS ON NIL

#NCAA #Title IX #Women's Sports #Transgender Sports #Transphobia #Anti Trans Extremism #Gaines v. NCAA #Réka György #Riley Gaines #Lia Thomas #Kaitlynn Wheeler #Ainsley Erzen #Kylee Alons #Independent Council on Women’s Sports #ICONS #LGBTQ+