“This is a trans woman a male body with male physiology.”
A transgender woman dominated a national powerlifting competition in Virginia on Saturday, earning backlash from prominent female athletes.
Mary Gregory touted her achievements in an Instagram post on Sunday. She boasted that she had won all nine of the events she entered and set four international records for the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwxgbyQgtI_/?utm_source=ig_embed
The U.S. championship was held at a hotel in Highland Spring, near where Gregory trains in Richmond. It was for athletes over 40 years old.
Gregory went on to thank the powerlifting federation and her supporters.
“As a transgender lifter I was unsure what to expect going into this meet and everyone- all the spotters, loaders, referees, staff, meet director, all made me welcome and treated me as just another female lifter- thank you!” she said. “And thanks to all the fans in the audience who cheered me on and congratulated me!”
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However, two female former Olympians from the United Kingdom – where transgender rights have lately been hotly debated – joined many Instagram users in essentially calling Gregory a cheater.
Sharron Davies, who won a silver medal in swimming, tweeted Sunday that Gregory has a “male body with male physiology” that creates “a pointless and unfair playing field.”
This is a trans woman a male body with male physiology setting a world record & winning a woman’s event in America in powerlifting. A woman with female biology cannot compete.. it’s a pointless unfair playing field. https://t.co/sI9i3AFANB
— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) April 28, 2019
Davies added that she’s “for everyone living the way they wish,” but repeated her calls for transgender athletes to either compete against men or in a separate class.
Socially I’m for everyone living the way they wish, safely, not harming others but sport is ALL about biology not ideology. Sport must be competed in by sex – XX & an open class, to be inclusive but fair, if trans athletes don’t want separate trans competition
— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) April 29, 2019
Kelly Holmes, a two-time gold medalist runner, agreed, saying that the transgender women competing against biological women is a “bloody joke.” She warned that the transgender community will otherwise face “backlash and abuse” from sports fans.
Its a bloody joke and all getting ready for biological women to boycott certain events.Have a trans category if need be but even better a trans games.Otherwise i’m starting to worry about the backlash and abuse that the trans community will get from spectators. It will happen!
— Kelly Holmes (@damekellyholmes) April 28, 2019
Gregory – who according to her Instagram posts began taking hormones to transition nine months ago, shortly after coming out and ending her marriage – was the latest in a series of transgender athletes to create controversy by winning women’s powerlifting and other sports competitions.
Davies and Holmes, along with U.S. tennis legend Martina Navratilova, former U.S. sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross, a four-time gold medalist, and British marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe, have led activism on behalf of barring such mixed competition. They have said they only seek to recognize the physiological reality that men are stronger and faster than women.
Exactly!!! https://t.co/tqbuTwSjqX
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) April 29, 2019
But LGBT activists have branded the women as bigots, with some going as far as to deny the existence of biological sex.
The debate extends well beyond sports. In both the United States and the United Kingdom, legislation is being considered to ease recognition and enhance the rights of transgender people.
Story cited here.
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