A federal court overruled a district court’s decision Friday, thus enabling the Disc Golf Pro Tour to prevent a transvestite from competing in an elite tournament against women.
While this is hardly the decision fringe LGBT activists desired, the restored gender policy now keeping male athlete Natalie Ryan out of the tournament is to the satisfaction of the supermajority of female Professional Disc Golf Association members.
What’s the background?
Ryan can compete in the mixed professional open, but evidently prefers to compete against women and has done so since March 2019.
Ryan came in first in the PDGA female professional open Elite event in Leicester, Massachusetts, in September, taking $9,000 in prize money. Having similarly edged out women in other competitions — earning nearly $20,000 in prize money in 2022 — he is presently listed as #5 among the top female professional open on Disc Golf World Rankings.
Jonathan Kay noted in Quillette that those losing out to Ryan on prize money and accolades are women who have worked ardently, sometimes for decades, at making a living at the sport.
The biological advantage is undeniable, Kay indicated, citing the PDGA’s own data.
For instance, in the “Advanced” amateur division dominated by men, players are capable of throwing a maximum distance of between 300 and 450 feet. In the “Advanced Women” division, players’ throw distance maxes out at between 200 and 300 feet.
The world record for longest disc golf throws is even more illustrative of the delta in capability: For men it is 1,109 feet; for women it is 569 feet.
One female competitor suggested to Kay that it’s hard competing against Ryan without realizing he’s just a middling male athlete.
“They have this really obvious masculine energy — and so you’re constantly being reminded that you’re basically playing with an amateur-level male,” said the woman, whose identity Kay kept anonymous. “The sight of it reminds me that I’m in an unfair situation, and it makes it hard for me to maintain my mental game.”
Rule change
The PDGA Global Board of Directors voted in November to update its policy on transgender participation in gender-based divisions, effective Jan. 1. The corresponding Disc Golf Pro Tour followed suit.
This change came after the PDGA surveyed its membership and found that 67% of all members and 75% of DGPT women signaled opposition to having “transgender women” compete with women.
The PDGA’s new rule requires that any so-called “transgender woman” must have started taking puberty blockers prior to the age of 12 in order to compete in the female professional open divisions of its elite events. Transvestites must also now continuously maintain a total testosterone level in serum below 2.0 nmol/L.
Men like Ryan are, as a result, ineligible to compete in the women’s division.
Ryan didn’t take the news well, reported the sports-focused LGBT activist publication Outsports.
“This change was never about fairness,” he said. “This is about my success and their aversion to it.”
Despite the supermajority of all members in disagreement with him, Ryan suggested that the PDGA should be replaced so he can have his way.
“We can elect more forward-thinking and progressive people. We can push bigotry out of our sport,” he said. “The PDGA board chose to shrink our sport, so it is our turn to grow past their hatred and truly make this sport welcoming to everyone.”
Lawsuit
Ryan filed a lawsuit in February, alleging “that the policy adopted by the PDGA and DGPT is arbitrary and capricious and in violation of [his] right to be free from discrimination based on [his] gender.”
The suit demanded punitive and special damages and a permanent injunction against both the PDGA and DGPT enjoining them from barring transvestites from competing in the women’s division of disc golf tournaments.
U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley granted Ryan a temporary restraining order Thursday, enabling him to compete against against women in the OTB Open over the weekend, reported the Daily Mail.
“It appears there was an intentional act, the creation of a policy, that excludes individuals based on their protected status as transgender women,” wrote Nunley. “The Court makes no determinations as to whether this is sufficient to actually establish intentional discrimination, but it raises serious questions.”
Ryan said of the decision, “Today is a momentous win for trans athletes. … My fire is going to burn brighter than ever this weekend,” reported Ultiworld.
As a consequence of the restraining order, Ryan was able to complete the first round of the tour, finishing the day in fifth place.
Mulligan
Ryan’s legal victory quickly transitioned into a loss.
The DGPT appealed the decision and prevailed on Friday, getting Ryan booted off the tour.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay to the restraining order issued by the district court, noting, “It appears that the district court lacks diversity jurisdiction over the [Disc Golf Pro] Tour because Plaintiff and at least one member of the Tour are citizens of Virginia.”
According to Ultiworld, at issue was that for the case to be heard in a federal court, the plaintiff, a citizen of Virginia, had to be from a different state from the defendants, which was not the case.
Following the ruling, the DGPT stated, “This order restores the DGPT’s ability to enforce its current policy on Gender Eligibility. … The DGPT will follow the court’s ruling and enforce its Gender Eligibility Policy which will disallow Ms Ryan from continuing competition in the OTB Open.”
In a now-deleted post, Ryan wrote, “The DGPT is removing me from the OTB open. No matter where they go I will fight them every step of the way. If you thought I was fighting hard before, just wait,” and threatened, “They are going to burn with me.”
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