Transgender boy wins girls’ state wrestling title for second time

derp wrote:

HS wrestling was coed when I was in school. A buddy of mine had to wrestle a girl in the 115 weight class. She almost beat him. Sure there's potential for lopsided matches, but at least in a sport with weight classes, the gender gap is somewhat narrowed. Just make it all coed and be done with it.

Really? You do not realize that on the whole men of a same body mass have more muscle mass than females?

Look at results in weightlifting that also has weight classes.

Taking testosterone should disqualify any athlete from competition.

Why did the girl, who wants to be trangender, and is taking testosterone, go ahead and wrestle girls who are not taking testosterone, and thereby win with an obvious drug cheat aura?

She (or he) made a choice to take advantage of what looks like drug cheating.

Not much of a athletic role model.

Luv2Run wrote:

This certainly a tricky situation. The wrestler is abiding by the rules set forth by the Texas HS association in 2016.

From what I have read the wrestler asked to wrestle in the boys division but was denied. Not sure what he is supposed to do. (And no I do not think that not participating is a good option).

Agreed, this kid should not be expected to go over and beyond what the Texas association wants him to do. It is however a fact that the Texas association has this wrong.

Since the Texas association does not seem to have the ability to come up with a logical system on their own, they should simply follow what the NCAA dictates.

Don't blame this kid for the Texas Association's lack of competence.

Caster Semenya

Wrestling's a joke any way competitively.

14 weight classes? Really?

Imagine if your xc or track race was split into 14 different weight classes. Talk about an easy sport to be a winner in. Jeez.

Disqualification wrote:

Taking testosterone should disqualify any athlete from competition.

This....

Disqualification wrote:

Taking testosterone should disqualify any athlete from competition.

Easiest would be to just not allow and TUEs. If you need to take a banned substance, for any reason, then you can’t compete. Keep it simple.

If you are taking a banned substance that gives you an athletic advantage, you shouldn't be allowed to compete as a male or female.

The law for Texas may seem backward but there are more cases of transgender females (born male) competing in womens events and dominating. I forget the details. There is a trangender female dominating at the state level as a female and the person would not even make it to state as a male.

Someone commented "who cares" and its just high school, it doesn't matter. I think you are forgetting that for many. Sports are a big part of the high school experience. Earning your titles , fairly, is important for these kids. In the big picture of life it may not seem like a big deal, but it is important to these kids.

Some details not mentioned in this thread, last year many female did forfeit or refuse to wrestle again him/her. Siting fairness and safety and out right discomfort about the situation. Law suits were also filed.

I consider myself fairly liberal, but I just can not support this type of situation.