A transgender professional cyclo-cross rider has been told she will not be able to race in the race in the men’s event at the Cycloross National Championships next month in Asheville, North Carolina - despite having performed in this category for most of her career.
Molly Cameron, who identifies as female, but races in a men’s category, has been told by USA Cycling (USAC) that she must race as the sex shown on her driving licence, which is female.
She is the only transgender athlete to compete in a UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup - which she did against other men, since early in her racing career she was kicked out of the women’s category and into the men’s.
Proving herself as she went on, it became clear that from a purely physical point of view, it was the correct category for her to compete in, and she placed second in the men’s 30-39 category at cross nationals in 2013.
Despite her female driving licence, she has happily competed in the men’s races since the 1990s - but now USAC has made it impossible for her to register for the national championships.
USA Cycling told Bike Portland: “We understand that this is a complicated issue and the application of our existing gender rules in this case may not be what was intended.
“We seek to be fair to all transgender athletes, including Molly, and will immediately look into this case to see if we can find a just solution.”
On Facebook Cameron posted: “Put away the pitchforks and torches, USA Cycling is not always right but they are trying. They are not the enemy.”
She added: “I’m of two minds about this. Part of me is like, I’ll go race the woman’s category. Win or lose I’m sure it will p*ss a lot of people off.”
“I know I’m not the only trans woman out there. Is it going to do more harm than good to let me race with the men? This is really kind of hilarious. At first I was forced to race with the dudes and now I’m being forced to race with the women.”
USAC rules differ from the Olympic ones - which state that athletes should compete as the gender they were assigned at birth - unless they have had sex reassignment surgery.
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11 comments
Mostly, having a Men-only category is daft. Should be called General, open to all participants, including those in the narrower cats. They'll get there, I think.
Maybe there should be two new transgender categories. A category for those who were born male and changed to female and another for those who began as female and changed to male. Of course you can only race in the category that applies to you.
Skinsuits don't leave much to the imagination and I presume the picture of the Gentleman above is the individual in question. We are in danger of letting our desire to please people cloud realities. I am with Germaine Greer on this one; women in a race would not be impressed or think it is equality to have to compete against the person shown above no matter what she identifies as. I don't see why "Mens" categories can't be open to everyone.
There is a case of like this in the netherlands - Natalie van Gogh, she races in the womens categorie`s. sometimes the press screams murder when she wins a race but overall that doesn`t happen too often indicating that it`s not too unfair. She claims also to have lost a considerable amount of muscle power due to hormonal treatment which i do believe, as i have trained with her a few times.
Letting her race with the women does make her a good female cyclist, but as a man she would have made a very decent top amateur racer (not a winning one, but a pretty good one nonetheless)
A difficult topic, but it`s redicilous in the case of the article: there`s no possible advantage there at all. so why exclude her there?
Totally different, Natalie had gender surgery in 2005, so she is legally and fully a women, no mater what people say. She's done at least two years post op of hormone and there for, under the rules, she is all clear to race in the women's category.
As for "SpiritualOne" calling it a "fashion statement"....away to F*** you stupid ignorant ****
if you had read my post properly, instead of the usual knee jerk reaction, you would understand that Transssxualism, which I have suffered from and undergone sex reassignment surgery like Natalie, is an accepted congenital medical condition and meets the Olympic standard to compete.
Transgender identities (i.e. transvestite, crossdresser, gender queer, bi-gender and non-conforming gender) all have two things in common. Firstly they show absolutely no dysphoria with their birth sex reproductive organs, there is no born in the wrong body that Transsexuals have and there is no medical research to back up any claims these identities are caused during foetal development. Secondly, all the Transgender identities are based on outward appearance via clothing, make up and hairstyles, which is turn demand on fashion at the time i.e. The identities are a fashion statement. If you believe that males can get pregnant and give birth and that females have penises and produce sperm then you are a f*****g idiot.
As someone who was diagnosed with Transsexualism, and undergone sex reassignment surgery, i believe the rules the Olympic Games use should be enforced in all sports. The Olympic Games insist that anyone changing sex must have undergone sex reassignment surgery and been on hormones for 2 years which all Transsexuals will have done.
Transgender on the other hand is simply an umbrella term, nothing more. Transsexual has been forcibly included under the Transgender umbrella, against Transsexual wishes, along with the Transgender identities which are transvestite, crossdresser, gender queer, bi-gender and non-conforming gender. As the individual above has not undergone sex reassignment surgery then why are the deemed to be female? They claim they identify as the opposite sex but as female do not have penises, then how can they claim to identify as something that doesnt exist?
Transgender in short isnt a medical condition, like Transsexualism, its a fashion statement and hopefully very soon society will opne their eyes to this fact.
As Ted Clubberlang said "there's no such thing as chicks with d**ks, only guys with b**bs"
This issue seems suddenly to have burst onto the scene, there are more and more people like Molly who inhabit a middle ground where there are few certainties. No doubt somewhere a court is working on a ruling that will throw everything up into the air and God knows how things will turn out.
The area that probably holds the greatest potential for dispute is when athletes who were born men later identify as women and compete as women. Their genetic make-up will give them a distinct advantage in that category and this will upset a lot of competitors. Maybe these individuals will have to forgo the right to enter the higher levels of their sport?
I'm glad I'm not in charge!
Can't they just relax the rules and let her continue racing in the men's? I could understand it if she wanted to compete in the women's but wasn't allowed due to having an unfair advantage.
I agree. It's testosterone that's the performance enhancing drugs. If you've gone through teenage and it's grown you big, then you will have kept on your muscle mass and that, and
you have a hooj advantage. You probably ought to race with the lads.
It's difficult to be fair for everyone- At least they are thinking and talking about it. Sport is almost entirely about what our body can do as opposed to who we are, so it must be particularly hard to think your way around.