5 myths to dispel about allowing trans and intersex athletes to openly compete - Read more at: http://scl.io/JcYqTksI#gs.F2mUXiI

LGBTI advocates have welcomed the inclusion of trans and intersex athletes at Rio 2016, but others still regard their participation in sport as controversial 


The Olympics are here and a new controversy is on the rise: its new policies for transgender and intersex athletes, will be put to the test for the first time in history.
The rights of trans and intersex athletes and the integrity of women’s competition are not mutually exclusive. What defines an athlete, or more specifically, an intersex or transgender athlete? Let’s dispel some of the myths surrounding trans and intersex people in athletics:
Myth 1 : Intersex athletes are so rare that their rights can be discounted
Despite the pervasiveness of the ‘male-female’ binary, somewhere between 1 in 1500 and 1 in 60 babies are born with some mixture of male and female sex characteristics. Intersex people are as common as redheads.
The presence of intersex people in elite athletics is even stronger – over 140 times more common than in the general population.
Last July, intersex Indian sprinter Dutee Chand successfully challenged the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF)’s hyperandrogenism regulations; now, women with naturally high testosterone levels can compete without taking hormone blockers.
Chand and another superstar intersex athlete, South African Caster Semenya, will be competing later this month in the Rio Summer Olympics.
Since the Olympics began, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) has been tasked with drawing an un-crossable line between ‘male’ and ‘female’ that does not actually exist; the process has not been victimless.
Both Chand and Semenya’s careers fell under threat after they were subjected to extensive sex testing.
Both women were misled by sporting authorities about why they were being tested and, like many other athletes, neither had any idea what ‘intersex’ meant before they were subjected for years to dehumanizing media scrutiny.
Others were pressured into medically unnecessary surgeries to force their bodies to conform to an acceptable standard of ‘femininity.’ Such injustice has been shockingly common and cannot be overlooked.
Myth 2: Trans and intersex inclusion will encourage men to dupe their way into women’s trophies
This is an ancient argument with no real foundation besides misogyny. Since women were first allowed to compete in sports, a traditionally ‘manly’ activity, the rulemakers of elite athletics have obsessed over the non-existent threat of ‘gender fraud,’ likely fueled by doubt that skilled women athletes could even be women.
From ‘certificates of femininity’ to ‘nude parades’ to chromosome testing and coercive gonadectomies, elite athletics has immersed itself in gender policing perhaps more than any other arena.
In decades of intensive sex testing, not once have Olympics officials discovered a man masquerading as a woman.
Anyone who believes that this will now become commonplace underestimates the terrible stigma that trans women face from the public and from their fellow athletes. No man is about to jump at the opportunity to be ridiculed.
Myth 3: Trans women have significant athletic advantage even after hormone therapy
According to the IOC’s new policies, released last January, trans men are now allowed to compete ‘without restriction’ while trans women must go on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for at least 12 months, or until their testosterone levels drop below the ‘male’ lower limit.
Sex reassignment surgery is no longer required.
Despite ‘common knowledge’ that biological males are naturally better than females at sports, research has indicated that different average testosterone levels are the only reliable explanation for the 10-12 percent average advantage elite male athletes have over elite female athletes.
Even then, minimal research has been conducted on the relationship between biological sex and athletic performance, and even less on the ‘special case’ of trans and intersex people.
There is no evidence that trans women on hormone therapy (HRT) that lower their testosterone have any significant performance advantage over cis women.
In fact, a landmark study on the topic revealed that competitive male athletes, after transitioning with HRT to women and subsequently weakening their running times, become competitive to a similar degree in women’s races.
Plus, any elite athlete would balk at the assumption that biology is the only or even primary reason for their success. No one makes it to Olympic podium without the highest drive, discipline, and focus.
Myth 4: An ‘even playing field’ is an attainable goal
The question of ‘fair competition’ becomes problematic when dealing with the realities of the sex and gender spectrum. American 1500m record holder Shannon Rowbury has stated that intersex inclusion ‘challenges and threatens the integrity of women’s sports.’ On the contrary, intersex people should not be penalized for making best use of their natural physical state.
Many other biological abnormalities – from high lung capacity to longer legs – offer competitive advantages, but none of these is regulated. Men’s testosterone levels go similarly unregulated.
Additionally, many factors apart from the biological contribute hugely to an athlete’s ability.
Chand grew up in poverty-stricken Southern India, with much less easy access to the good nutrition, coaching, and facilities needed to support a promising young athlete. Even if her higher testosterone is an advantage, why should she be punished for this advantage while athletes with wealthy upbringings are not?
An absolutely level playing field, while an admirable goal, can only be aspirational.
Myth 5: The fight for intersex and trans athletes’ rights is won
The Olympics’ new policies remain for the most part untested. No out trans athlete has yet competed in the Olympics, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport will reevaluate the IOC’s hyperandrogenism regulations in 2017.
But Rio may be our first taste of a morphing political landscape. If Semenya not only wins gold but demolishes a 30-year-old world record, she will likely be thrown to the media bloodhounds once again.
And don’t expect the two anonymous British trans women who may be competing to come out of the closet anytime soon, as trans advisor for sporting bodies Delia Johnson states that their ‘fear of ridicule and total humiliation is so massive’ that they plan to ‘probably drop back’ if their Rio performance earns them a spot on the podium.
Who can blame them? Recent coverage of their participation – sparse, but growing – has featured enough self-righteous transphobic rhetoric to launch a panic in the sports world that threatens the trans rights movement internationally.
We can only expect this backlash to grow as more out trans and intersex athletes begin to compete and, more contentiously, to win. Be a better trans and intersex ally, and brace yourself for a battle that is just beginning.
Ariel Hoffmaier is a member of OutRight Action International’s communications team. Founded in 1990 and guided by the values of collaboration, depth and feminism, OutRight Action International (OutRight) strives to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people to live safer, healthier, and more empowered lives worldwide. OutRight’s vision of change includes policy reform, legal challenges, coalition initiatives, and stronger LGBTI communities worldwide.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/myths-trans-intersex-athletes-rio-2016/#gs.F2mUXiI

Reject the Spin: Trump Is LGBT Americans' Greatest Threat

Like a man embracing his bride while coyly winking over his shoulder at one of his wedding party guests, Donald Trump used the Republican National Convention to stir passion among the party base while lightly romancing LGBT people. The flirtation included Trump’s (awkward) reference to “LGBTQ people” in his acceptance speech — a first for a Republican presidential candidate. Earlier, a Trump supporter said he was “proud to be gay” in a prime-time speech. That’s also a first for a Republican convention.

Could it be that The Donald has softened his —and his party’s — notorious and discriminatory policy positions regarding LGBT people? It seems hard to believe. I still remember watching Pat Buchanan’s prime-time speech at the Republican convention, just six election cycles ago, when he bellowed “There is a culture war going on in our country for the soul of America” while people in the audience thundered their approval and waved signs that read “Family Rights Forever, Gay Rights Never.”

Now we have the Republican nominee going so far as to say in his acceptance speech that he would “protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.” He even thanked those who applauded that line. And it was just a few months ago that Trump was thanked by Caitlyn Jenner for telling NBC’s Matt Lauer that people should be able to use whichever bathroom they feel most comfortable using.

So whatever you may think of Trump’s other policy positions — and there certainly is a lot to chew on in that regard — is he a candidate we can count on to advance equal rights and protections for LGBT people? Hardly. In fact, I have grave fears about what a Trump presidency would mean specifically for our community — besides what it would mean for our environment, for women, for Latinos, for black lives, for immigrants, for foreign relations, and so much more.

Let’s start with Trump’s convention speech pledge to protect LGBTQ people from violent and oppressive foreign ideologies. Here in the U.S., the threat specifically to LGBT people from foreign ideologies ranks low, somewhere near the threat to us from Chick-fil-A. Trump referenced the horrific murder of 49 people at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando before claiming to protect us, simply as a means to pit LGBT people against Muslims while promoting support for his unconstitutional ban on Muslim immigrants.

Except the Orlando shooter wasn’t an immigrant. He was a New Yorker of Muslim faith who was found by the CIA to have no links to ISIS and who was described by his wife as “mentally unstable and mentally ill.” In other words, he’s someone who shouldn’t have had access to the arsenal of weapons he used to conduct the worst mass shooting in the history of our country. But Trump, who’s proudly endorsed by the National Rifle Association, doesn’t believe in any restrictions on the constitutional right to gun ownership. 

The greatest threat to our well-being isn’t from hateful foreign ideologies. It’s from hateful domestic ideologies like those in the platform of the party that nominated Trump, ideologies promoted by political, religious, and community leaders who foster a culture that dehumanizes LGBT people and devalues our lives. A culture that causes parents to abandon their LGBT children, that convinces LGBT youth death is preferable to living, and that leads to brutal hate crimes against us. A culture that last year resulted in the murder of 22 transgender women.

The head of the Log Cabin Republicans said this year’s GOP platform is “the most anti-LGBT platform” in the history of the party (and that says something). It’s a policy paper that supports the repeal of our freedom to marry, opposes the adoption of children by same-sex couples, demeans LGBT parents by implying our kids are more likely to abuse drugs and turn to crime, calls for banning transgender people from using the bathrooms that match their gender identity, and affirms dangerous and discredited conversion “therapy” to change sexual orientation.

This brings me to Trump’s choice for vice president, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, because Pence is the human embodiment of that anti-LGBT platform.

Political pundits often say a presidential candidate’s choice of running mate is one of the most important decisions a candidate will make and a reflection of the would-be president’s judgment. But since vice presidents typically have little influence over policy (Biden and Cheney are recent exceptions to this rule), should Pence’s background and experience matter that much? In this case, it may matter more than the selection of any other vice president.

Before the job was offered to Pence, Ohio Gov. John Kasich rejected an offer to not only be Trump’s running mate, but also to become “the most powerful vice president” in the history of our country by managing foreign and domestic policy (it’s unclear what that would leave for Trump). Pence likely received the same offer. That should frighten LGBT people and all who believe in the promise of a free and equal nation.

Pence’s long history of opposing equal rights for LGBT people includes signing Indiana’s so-called religious liberty bill last year to legalize wide-scale discrimination against LGBT people. It was one of the most draconian, anti-LGBT pieces of legislation in the history of our country, enabling just about any business owner to refuse service to LGBT people. Pence is also a forceful opponent of marriage equality and a strong advocate of conversion therapy, which is outlawed in several states, and he even proposed to fund it with taxpayer dollars.

But if Trump is elected president, the greatest threat to LGBT people won’t come just from the executive branch of our government; it will come from the judicial. That’s because Trump has vowed to fill openings on the U.S. Supreme Court with people just like the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia, who was perhaps the most anti-LGBT Justice to ever serve on the court, opposed marriage equality and anti-discrimination law, supported sodomy laws, and famously compared gay men and lesbians to murderers, child abusers, pedophiles, and people who have sex with — and beat — animals.

There’s one opening on the Supreme Court now, and during the next president’s term there are likely to be a few others. Imagine what the future of the LGBT movement will be like with three Scalias on the court. Decades of progress could be reversed.

But hey, at least Trump supports the right of people to use the bathroom of their choice, as he said on the Today show, right? No. Under a little pressure from Ted Cruz during the primary, the guy who promises to be the strongest president in the history of our country quickly flipped, saying that states should have the right to punish someone who uses a bathroom that doesn’t correspond with their birth gender.

So this November, please don’t be fooled by a candidate who’s whispering sweet nothings in your ears and batting his eyelashes, because he’s also vowing to hurt you or — if you’re an LGBT ally — hurt those you love and care about. And please vote.

http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/8/08/reject-spin-trump-lgbt-americans-greatest-threat