Weightlifting: Transgender lifter Laurel Hubbard wins first international outing

[madville]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11821399

Weightlifting: Transgender lifter Laurel Hubbard wins first international outing

Kiwi weightlifter Laurel Hubbard has dominated her first major competition, taking out the Australian International in Melbourne on a night she made history as the first transgender athlete to represent New Zealand.Hubbard, 39, won the women's over 90kg division at the Melbourne event, setting four unofficial national records in the process. Hubbard lifted a combined total of 268kg - 19kg better than silver medallist Iuniarra Sipaia of Samoa.Australia's Kaitlyn Fassina claimed the bronze medal with 223kg.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/90607448/transgender-weightlifter-laurel-hubbard-achieves-new-zealand-sporting-first However, afterwards, bronze medallist Kaitlyn Fassina was less effusive."She is who she is. That's the way the politics...and what the New Zealanders have decided. I can't say much more than that. She is seen as female and that's the way it is."Two-time Olympian Deborah Acason went further."If I was in that category I wouldn't feel like I was in an equal situation. I just feel that if it's not even, why are we doing the sport?"

[shenmue]

1. Cool

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

2. This does not advance transgender acceptance

She previously competed as a man for a long time. I don't care if her testosterone levels are now at an acceptable level - her body developed as a male into adulthood, and she has the muscular structure of a male.

This is not going to advance transgendered rights among the general public. It's just not.

Allowing transgender women to compete is just making a farce out of women's sports.

When individuals like Hubbard win, I do not believe it is a step forward for the general transgender population, since it appears to turn women's athletics into a farce.

Does anyone truly believe that Caitlyn Jenner wouldn't have had a terribly unfair advantage had she transitioned 2 years before the Olympics and had competed against women?

Can anyone REALLY answer answer "no" to that question? And believe themselves?


I'm afraid we're going to watch as just a handful of transgender women truly fuck up women's sports. Is this what women have fought for in the field of athletics?

Life sucks, sometimes. I get it. I feel for transgender folks, since it's got to be horrible to feel like your body doesn't match your gender. I support transgender folks coming out and living lives as they wish, but this is just wrong and unfair to the other female athletes. It's fucked up. Period.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

3. Transgender

not transgendered. Small but important distinction, IMO.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

4. Thanks.

nt

[pnwmom]

8. Yes, she developed into adulthood with the muscle structure and bone structure of a male. n/t

[alarimer]

9. I agree but I don't know what the alternative should be.

I think the answer may depend on how long ago they transitioned and and the sport involved. In some sports, it may not matter as much. Think of curling, equestrian sports or shooting sports. Possibly it may not matter as much in sports where raw strength is not an issue, where agility matters more or in team sports, where the individual performance is less of an issue than team play.

Fairness is an important issue. Fairness for women as a class, who have worked so hard to achieve fairness in athletics and who, for years, had to prove they were women before they were allowed to compete (this involved invasive physical exams and, later, hormone tests), in addition to whatever drug tests they do now for PEDs. Some women naturally have higher than average testosterone levels for whatever reason (including intersex conditions) and that can be advantage in some sports like track.

I thought weightlifting had weight classes, where at least people are competing against individuals of similar size. I know wrestling does. So I'm not sure that this person has that much of a natural advantage.

On the other hand, elite level sports requires a great deal of training and discipline, whatever your natural advantages. And people vary hugely even within groups in their abilities, their strength levels, their training regimes.

So I don't know.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

10. No women are in the NBA, the NFL, or the MLB

No woman has yet competed and won against the best of men in golf or tennis. Duh!

Male bodies are simply stronger and have physical advantages over female bodies, and Hubbard has a male body, despite the fact that she feels like a woman and - I'm assuming - is legally a woman. Well, that's all fine until she competes against women with actual women's bodies!

If I were a female athlete competing against her I would be sincerely pissed.

[Ilsa]

11. I think you're right. She needed to either compete as a male,

Or given up competition after transitioning. It makes a mockery out of many women's sports involving strength, in particular.

[jmg257]

5. Doesn't seem the results would be too surprising.

Setting 4 national records...congrats.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

6. Not surprising.

And a very bitter congrats from the other contestants, I'm sure.

I have no ill will towards Hubbard as a transgender person, but I think she is taking advantage of "politically correct" rules, and knows it. I think less of her as a human being.

Her 4 national records are obscene.

"Two-time Olympian Deborah Acason went further."If I was in that category I wouldn't feel like I was in an equal situation. I just feel that if it's not even, why are we doing the sport?"

[jmg257]

7. Agreed - strange situation for sure.