So step two is very important to this discussion. There's so much you get out of sporting experiences. вЂњWe all want more people playing sports, people of all kinds. вЂњThere is no such thing as a women's sports advocate who is not also a sports advocate,вЂќ Hogshead-Makar said. But she pointed out - and it's hard to disagree - that Thomas seemed to have a big competitive advantage as a woman since she didn't have nearly as much success swimming on the Penn men's team for three years. Hogshead-Makar insisted that her fight is not against transgender athletes. With step two, we've got to figure out do we have another podium? Is there anything else we can do to make sure it's fair?вЂќ

вЂњThis is just step number one, which is how we lock down the female category. Hogshead-Makar conceded that any talk of separate divisions for transgender athletes is a work in progress. Would transgender swimmers be restricted to outside lanes that normally aren't used in major meets? Would they have separate medals and their own record book? And what about transgender men, who have been largely overlooked in this discussion? Would the Olympics jump on board? If transgender women are going to be barred from female events, it's imperative that governing bodies come up with ways for them to compete without being viewed as afterthoughts.ДЇINA insists that it's committed to such a goal, but it's difficult to envision just how that would work. вЂњSo once you say it's not fair, it's sort of game over.вЂќ вЂњMedically and scientifically, can it be fair? The answer is no,вЂќ Hogshead-Makar insisted. Hogshead-Makar is among those who believes that research clearly shows cisgender women are at significant disadvantage when competing against a transgender swimmer who went through puberty as a male - even more so than racing someone who's using performance-enhancing drugs. вЂњIf youвЂ™re a woman out there and youвЂ™re racing someone else, like, how would you feel doing that?вЂќ she said. While most swimmers at the world championships in Budapest declined to comment on the issue, Australia's Moesha Johnson seemed to express support for the ban on transgender women. вЂњWe've tried to protect the category for girls and women to just females, while at the same time looking to restructure sports in all different ways to include transgender people without blowing up the women's category.вЂќ вЂњI'm thrilled that the leadership in our sport stood up for fairness for females,вЂќ Hogshead-Makar said when reached by phone on Monday. The new guidelines were hailed as a giant step forward by many women's sports advocates, including 1984 Olympic swimming champion Nancy Hogshead-Makar. 'Consider if Lia were to make the Olympic team - right now, she is the only known trans woman competing in womenвЂ™s elite swimming. вЂњThe вЂopenвЂ™ category is incredibly othering and impractical,вЂќ said Schuyler Bailar, who became the first openly transgender swimmer in NCAA Division I as a member of the Harvard men's team. Which pretty much brings an end to Thomas' hopes of competing at the Olympics, not to mention transgender women in other sports who will likely face similar restrictions in the not-too-distant future.ДЇINA's ruling was draconian, though it also made a nod toward inclusion by calling for the establishment of so-called вЂњopenвЂќ categories for transgender athletes.Д«ut the organization gave little indication how those races would work - or if there would even be enough competitors to make them feasible. Anyone who has not begun the transition from male to female by the age of 12 or the onset of puberty, whichever comes later, will no longer be allowed to compete against cisgender women during their careers.

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