(OutSports) USA Boxing reportedly has a “new” policy regarding transgender athletes, and it’s already infuriating people across the spectrum.
Advocates for trans women’s participation in the female category are pointing to some of the harshest restrictions in sport. People who oppose trans women in the female category are upset there is any path to participation for them.
The World Boxing Council has, on the international stage, barred trans women from the female category, saying they will build a transgender category. Other countries’ governing bodies, like Boxing New Zealand, have followed suit.
The policy, as widely reported, has a number of key elements to it.
First, every athlete under 18 must compete in the category corresponding to their sex assigned at birth. This flies in the face of many of the more-strict trans-inclusion policies in sports, which allow for athletes to compete in their gender category as long as they haven’t experienced puberty.
Yet in boxing, a 15-year-old trans girl who has been on puberty blockers since they were 10 still has to compete in the male category.
Second, adult boxers must have had gender reassignment surgery. For years, sports governing bodies have moved away from this requirement, so the return of this requirement for USA Boxing is putting the push toward broader trans inclusion in reverse.
Third, adult boxers have to show they have have testosterone levels under 5 nmol/L for four years prior to competing. That four years is the longest wait period for any sport that allows trans women to compete in the female category.
Now USA Boxing is facing widespread criticism for the policy — at this point the strictest in sports (other than outright bans).
