No, Female Trans Athletes Do Not Have Unfair Advantages
As she rounds the corner into the last half mile, she notices the crowds on either side of the route are starting to get bigger. She’s trained tremendously hard for this half-marathon. Her pace has been good so far, right in line with her splits from training, and she still has energy left in the tank. She knows she’s in front of all of the other female competitors and could easily kick to the finish line for the win, but instead her pace slackens. She intentionally slows down, knowing what would be waiting for her at the finish line: the doubts, the questions, the publicity — even if it’s just the local paper.
She doesn’t need that in her life right now. She slows down even more.
First one, then a second and third woman pass her. Finally her legs kick back into motion as she matches the pace of the third-place runner, finishing just behind her, just off the podium. With post-race chocolate milk in hand, she looks longingly at the top three finishers chatting with local reporters and race officials, freshly received medals hanging from their necks. “Those things are just not for girls like us,” she thinks to herself.
What would possess a woman, in the best physical shape of her life, to back off a race like that? The truth is that she’s a transgender woman. And the truth is that most of society…
