Transgender Golfer - Lana Lawless: LPGA Should Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

Of course Lana Lawless should be able to play golf in the LGPA. What is wrong with the people who run the LGPA?  This is no slight to the folks who enjoy either playing golf or watching it on television but I cannot think of anything more boring including watching paint dry.  By allowing Lana Lawless to compete, it would be an opportunity for the LPGA to get some positive publicity and make the game a little more interesting. Come on folks. Join the 21st Century! The "womyn" born thing went out with lesbian feminism in the last century unless your a member of the LICK CLUB?? LPGA sued for gender discrimination by transgender golfer By Rob Sylvester Today in Ironic Surname news, The Ladies Professional Golf Association is being sued by Lana Lawless, a post-operative transgendered golfer recognized as a woman by the State of California but now unable to compete in LPGA events due to a rule change that restricts access to "females at birth." This is of course problematic for Lawless, a former long drive champion in the female division before the rule change, who is taking her appeal of the new rule to the courts. Lawless clearly believes that this is a case of discrimination, unfairly changing the rules to single her out and deny her equal access to the competitions. She doesn't feel the fact that she was born a man is an advantage for her at all. ABC News: I'm not physically as strong as I used to be," Lawless said. "I'm well under the top end of testosterone levels for genetically-born females." There really isn't a clear and easy solution to this -- in my opinion, Lawless should be allowed to compete as she is now a woman and her testosterone levels aren't those of a man, which would presumably provide an advantage in any physical competition -- but there will still be those with unflattering views of transgendered people who feel this is a blatant case of cheating. But if the issue is her strength/size, what if a natural born woman of similar stature wanted to play? Of course she'd be allowed to, and probably heralded for her physical presence. It's not against the rules to be an above-average sized woman, which is what Lawless is at this point in her life, and to attempt to legislate away what is sure to be an increasing issue in a society growing more tolerant of transgendered persons is a slippery slope that the LPGA would be better off not approaching. Unfortunately golf is not really known as the most progressive of fields, and the LPGA would rather not even discuss the issue at this point, though it's unclear if that's on the advice of their lawyers or just due to their extreme discomfort at having to deal with this issue in the first place. Mike Scanlan, LGPA's public relations manager, confirmed the tour's "female at birth" policy but declined to comment on why it was in place when other sports associations, including the International Olympic Committee, allow transgendered athletes to compete with stipulations. It will be interesting to see how this case is resolved, as it could either be a watershed moment in the acceptance of transgendered persons as full and valid members of society (as they are) or a step backwards in the relationship between gender roles and sport. All Ms. Lawless would like to do is compete, and short of the sudden creation of a Transgendered PGA, the ladies division is the only place for her to do it. Let's not over-complicate this. Once this all figured out though, hopefully they can answer another pressing question on gender and sports -- why are professional billiards and bowling segregated by sex at all? You can only hit a cue ball or a 10-pin so hard, anyways. Weird. Original Article