Caster Semenya Hopes To 'run Free' Again After Swiss Supreme Court Offers A Reprieve (Update)

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
:yep: They have a legitimate point.. just another angle of this issue that won't go away, simply because we choose to ignore it.

After reading up on her, it looks like people were suspicious of her as well.

If people want to make Caster into a martyr and be her champion then so be it. It’s an interesting world.
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
:yep: They have a legitimate point.. just another angle of this issue that won't go away, simply because we choose to ignore it.
Are we ignoring it or choosing to focus on what’s relevant to the issue?

If the issue is racial bias in sports , then they have a point.

But if the issue is should intersexed individuals compete against non intersexed women, then I don’t see the point.
 

dicapr

Well-Known Member
Are we ignoring it or choosing to focus on what’s relevant to the issue?

If the issue is racial bias in sports , then they have a point.

But if the issue is should intersexed individuals compete against non intersexed women, then I don’t see the point.

Sometimes people get tunnel vision about issues of black and white. Yes the issue overall is unfair on every side. But they are not picking on Castor because of her race.

They have offered her a way to continue to compete and she has rejected it (which is her prerogative).

But at the same time should the non intersexed women just accept that they are going to have to try to compete with someone who is a genetic male and wants to continue to benefit from their high testosterone issues?

There is no way to resolve this and make everyone happy.
 

Crackers Phinn

Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
But at the same time should the non intersexed women just accept that they are going to have to try to compete with someone who is a genetic male and wants to continue to benefit from their high testosterone issues?
To me this is the most important point. Caster knows that she's gaming the system and wants to continue doing so at the expense of who knows how many women athletes.
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
For those in support of her actions, the issue include her race; if the organization is changing rules abused by white intersexed runners because of Caster, then the racial component is already there, and they choose to address it just as important or relevant as her case. That's why I posted that Tweet.
I feel for her either way because her genetic "advantage" is natural and she's getting flak for choosing not to have it altered although there is no viable alternative. It's a sad situation all around.


Are we ignoring it or choosing to focus on what’s relevant to the issue?

If the issue is racial bias in sports , then they have a point.

But if the issue is should intersexed individuals compete against non intersexed women, then I don’t see the point.
 
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dicapr

Well-Known Member
For those in support of her actions, the issue include her race; if the organization is changing rules abused by white intersexed runners because of Caster, then the racial component is already there, and they choose to address it just as important or relevant as her case. That's why I posted that Tweet.
I feel for her either way because her genetic "advantage" is natural and she's getting flak for choosing not to have it altered although there is no viable alternative. It's a sad situation all around.

The cases seem similar but the really aren’t. Individuals suspected that the white athlete was taking steroids and that was why she looked masculine. It could have been that in 1983 the idea of a man passing as a woman was less popular than the idea that steroids were to blame. So while posting side by side pictures makes it appear racial the controversy surrounding both athletes is not the same.
 

HappilyLiberal

Well-Known Member
The cases seem similar but the really aren’t. Individuals suspected that the white athlete was taking steroids and that was why she looked masculine. It could have been that in 1983 the idea of a man passing as a woman was less popular than the idea that steroids were to blame. So while posting side by side pictures makes it appear racial the controversy surrounding both athletes is not the same.
Plus, where is the white runner from? East Germany had a full scale doping system in place that was used on their female athletes--many times without their knowledge or consent. Those women later had problems conceiving because of this. So, those cases are very different.
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
Caster Semenya considered boycott, says she’s blocked from Rabat meet
OlympicTalk
8 hours ago



Caster Semenya said she has been denied entry into Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, even though she is eligible to race her preferred distances while a Swiss supreme court decides on her appeal against the IAAF’s new rules for female events.


Semenya also said she considered boycotting racing the 800m unless the rule is lifted for all affected runners.

“I am a woman, but the IAAF has again tried to stop me from running the way I was born,” Semenya said in the release. “The IAAF questions my sex, causes me great pain and required me to take hormonal drugs that made me feel constantly sick and unable to focus for many years. No other woman should be forced to go through this in order to have the same right that all women have – to do what we love and run the way we were born.”

The two-time Olympic 800m champion’s team said she was told Tuesday that the president of the Moroccan track and field federation denied her from entering the 800m in Sunday’s meet.

“Caster is currently seeking clarity on the specific reasons for that decision, and she urges the IAAF to ensure its member federations comply with the law and the Supreme Court’s orders,” according to a press release.

The given media contact for the Rabat meet did not respond to an email last week asking if Semenya would be invited to race after the Swiss court made her eligible for the time being to race her best events — from the 400m through the mile. The same contact did not respond to a follow-up email Thursday afternoon following Semenya’s press release.

“It should be noted that the Diamond League meetings are not organized by the IAAF,” the IAAF said in a statement later Thursday. “Entry for any athlete into a Diamond League meeting is by invitation only from the meeting organizer.”


Semenya’s team also said the Swiss court denied an IAAF request to reimpose the regulations. The IAAF said it “continues to comply with” the Swiss court order to suspend the testosterone rule, strictly for Semenya.

“No woman should be subjected to these rules,” Semenya said in the release. “I thought hard about not running the 800m in solidarity unless all women can run free. But I will run now to show the IAAF that they cannot drug us.”

Semenya is also seeking to change her event at the Pre Classic on June 30 from the 3000m to the 800m, according to the release.

“As one of the premier track and field meets in the World, the Prefontaine Classic always strives to have the top athletes in attendance,” a meet spokesperson said when asked if Semenya will be allowed in the 800m. “If an athlete has a time/mark that is among the best in the World and is eligible in the eyes of the sports’ governing bodies, then yes, they will be considered for an invite to the Prefontaine Classic.”
 

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
No other woman should be forced to go through this in order to have the same right that all women have – to do what we love and run the way we were born.”
A unisex race is needed for professionals. That should be implemented immediately so that she can continue the profession she loves.

I am feeling some kind of way about her quote. It sounds too scripted--too typical, as if this is a setup. Usually I am neutral especially for a person with intersex disorder but this here *almost* sounds like the agenda of transexual people.
 

dicapr

Well-Known Member
A unisex race is needed for professionals. That should be implemented immediately so that she can continue the profession she loves.

I am feeling some kind of way about her quote. It sounds too scripted--too typical, as if this is a setup. Usually I am neutral especially for a person with intersex disorder but this here *almost* sounds like the agenda of transexual people.

I feel for her but I’m not here for her quote. It definitely sounds like she has another agenda. Besides other intersexed individuals the only other women this would apply to would be trans women. We don’t need transwomen completing against biological women because they are running the way they were born.
 

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
I feel for her but I’m not here for her quote. It definitely sounds like she has another agenda. Besides other intersexed individuals the only other women this would apply to would be trans women. We don’t need transwomen completing against biological women because they are running the way they were born.
It's difficult to tell if she is fighting for her own rights (I would say put me on any available race and let's see how I do and go from there). No, she is doing this double talk as if someone made her the spokesperson for transgendered people when she is not. I hope she knows someone is using her.
 

dicapr

Well-Known Member
It's difficult to tell if she is fighting for her own rights (I would say put me on any available race and let's see how I do and go from there). No, she is doing this double talk as if someone made her the spokesperson for transgendered people when she is not. I hope she knows someone is using her.

I don’t think someone is using her. She is a member of the LGBTQ community and she probably feels as if she is fighting for all non-biological women.

However I think many people see intersexed individuals as a special case because they are born phenotypically female with XY chromosomes.
 

guudhair

Well-Known Member
We don’t need transwomen completing against biological women because they are running the way they were born.

Intersex people are running the way they were born as well...and in Caster’s case, with extra testosterone. Neither should be competing against women and girls.

Intersex and trans people should be included in special sporting groups for schools/Special Olympics until the organization figures out something else other than allowing them to participate in events for women and girls.
 

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
LGBTQI

I briefly just saw part of a commercial on YouTube (I hate commercials being on YouTube btw) and the actress (actor?) mentioned being part of the LGBTQI community. Is this new? How long has "I" been a part of the community and do you think that is fair for them or that they want to be a part of the community?
 

dancinstallion

Well-Known Member
This is the point. Biologically he is a male not a female with high testosterone. I am glad they are fighting his appeal.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/19/caster-semenya-biologically-male-iaaf/


Women’s Olympic Champion Caster Semenya Is ‘Biologically Male,’ IAAF Says


June 19th, 2019

Caster Semenya of South Africa looks on prior to competing in the Women's 800 metres during the IAAF Diamond League event at the Khalifa International Stadium on May 03, 2019 in Doha, Qatar. (Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Women’s Olympic champion Caster Semenya is a biological male, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world’s largest sports governing body, argued in court.

Semenya, the South African runner who dominated the female competition in the women’s 800M at the 2016 London Olympics, is fighting an IAAF requirement that biologically male runners suppress their testosterone below a certain level in order to compete in female events.





Media reporting on the subject has often left outthe fact that the IAAF’s rule only applies to runners with male chromosomes rather than female runners with high testosterone levels.

The IAAF called the requirement “an extremely progressive compromise” between protecting the integrity of women’s sports and accommodating “certain biologically male athletes with female gender identities” like Semenya who want to compete in women’s sports, the court documents show.

The IAAF added that “there are some contexts where biology has to trump identity.” (RELATED: Every Democratic 2020 Frontrunner Supports Bill Forcing Male Athletes Into Girls’ Sports)



Semenya at France’s LNA Pro Athle Tour meeting on June 11, 2019 (GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP/Getty Images)

Semenya reportedly has “5-alpha reductase deficiency” (5-ARD), a medical condition affecting male sexual development.


Semenya’s case, the IAAF reiterated, “is not about biological females and how their bodies respond to testosterone; it is about biological males with 5-ARD (and other [male sexual development disorders]), how their bodies respond to testosterone, and the performance advantages of that response when they compete against biological females.”

Athletes with 5-ARD are “biologically indistinguishable… in all relevant aspects” from typical male athletes, with the only major difference being the “size and shape of their external genitals,” the IAAF argued.


Semenya celebrates winning the Women’s 800 meters during the IAAF Diamond League event at the Khalifa International Stadium on May 03, 2019 in Doha, Qatar. (Francois Nel/Getty Images)

“People with this condition are genetically male, with one X and one Y chromosome in each cell, and they have male gonads (testes),” the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s explainer on 5-ARD states. “Their bodies, however, do not produce enough of a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT has a critical role in male sexual development, and a shortage of this hormone disrupts the formation of the external sex organs before birth.”

The Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in favor of the IAAF last month but before Tuesday, “CAS had previously released only short excerpts of the final verdict when it was announced last month,” the Associated Press reported.


Semenya appealed the verdict to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, which announced June 3 that it was suspending the IAAF’s rule while it considers Semenya’s appeal

 
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dancinstallion

Well-Known Member
Also with the complete form of AIS, without intervention, the person at puberty develops a typical female (external) phenotype correct? That's how I think about AIS and feel she is probably closer to 5-ARDS or maybe an incomplete AIS. I cannot think of any other intersex disorder she would have based on what was said but I know there are rare disorders and even rarer disorders.

Caster has 5-ARDS like you suspected.
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
I’d compare my life with Jesus, I've been crucified’ – Semenya on IAAF testosterone battle
Published time: 1 Jul, 2019 12:37
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South African runner Caster Semenya says she has been “crucified” over her battle with the IAAF regarding testosterone levels in female athletes.

Two-time Olympic 800m champion Semenya, 28, is engaged in a fight with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) over proposed rules that would require competitors with differences of sexual development (DSD) to limit testosterone levels, should they wish to take part in track events from 400m to the mile.

The ruling is seen as being prompted by Semenya, who is believed to have internal testes and has naturally high levels of testosterone.

READ MORE: 'They used me as a human guinea pig': Caster Semenya slams IAAF over testosterone reduction drugs

The South African has dominated at the 800m since bursting onto the scene at the World Championships in Berlin a decade ago, but under the new rulings she would be required to take testosterone-reducing medication.

A Swiss federal court has temporarily suspended the IAAF’s ruling, meaning she can compete while an appeal is pending, and Semenya won the 800m at the Prefontaine Classic in Stanford, California, over the weekend.


Semenya in action on Sunday. © Getty Images / AFP / Ezra Shaw
Afterwards, she told the BBC that she was being “crucified” amid her battle with the IAAF and said it was destroying her “physically and mentally."

"I cannot say I've been victimized. I think I set an example,” she said.

“I think I'm in this world for a reason. I think I am a living testimony. I would say I'm a savior.

"If you read the Bible you will understand what I'm talking about. If I may compare my life, I would compare my life with Jesus. I've been crucified, I've been done bad.

"But at the end of the day I'm still here, am still alive. I am still standing,” she added defiantly.

ALSO ON RT.COM‘This is biology, not gender identity’: IAAF submits response to Swiss court on Caster Semenya case
Semenya questioned the need for the new IAAF rules, saying: "It's very simple here, when you introduced sports, you never said people with differences, cannot run with other people.

“You do not say we categorize men because they have got long legs, they have got long arms. They have those long strides. Others are short.

“You don't categorize them like that. You categorise them as women and men.”

She also vowed that if she ultimately lost her appeal against the IAAF plans, she would not run at this year’s World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

"If I'm not running 800m, I'm not running in the world championships. My goals are to defend my world title. So if I'm not allowed I'm not allowed.

“I'm just going to take a vacation and then come back next year," she added.

The IAAF had initially been backed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport over its new rules, and submitted a response to the Swiss federal court at the end of June. It has said it is hoping for a “swift” resolution to the case.

"The IAAF will continue to defend its DSD Regulations and the CAS Award… because it continues to believe in equal rights and opportunities for all women and girls in our sport today and in the future,” it said.
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
Sorry y’all, I feel down a rabbit hole for the last 30 minutes. Here’s another transgendered athlete that was subpar as a male runner but has dominated the women’s.

An Athlete Who Ran NCAA Track As A Man For 3 Years Just Won An NCAA Women’s Title

By Robert Johnson
May 28, 2019


Over Memorial Day weekend, everyone who cares about the future of women’s sport saw their worst fears become a reality.

Transgender woman CeCe Telfer, who was born and raised as Craig Telfer and competed on the Franklin Pierce University men’s track and field team during her first three years of college, won the women’s 400-meter hurdles national title at the 2019 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Telfer dominated the competition, winning in 57.53 as second place was way back in 59.21.

Prior to joining the women’s team this season, Telfer was a mediocre DII athlete who never came close to making it to nationals in the men’s category. In 2016 and 2017, Telfer ranked 200th and 390th, respectively, among DII men in the 400 hurdles (Telfer didn’t run outdoor track in 2018 as either a man or woman). Now she’s the national champion in the event simply because she switched her gender (Telfer’s coach told us that even though she competed on the men’s team her first three years, her gender fluidity was present from her freshman year).

The fact that Telfer can change her gender and immediately become a national champion is proof positive as to why women’s sports needs protection. Telfer ran slightly faster in the 400 hurdles competing as a man (57.34) than as a woman (57.53), even though the men’s hurdles are six inches taller than the women’s hurdles. Yet when Telfer ran 57.34 as a man, she didn’t even score at her conference meet — she was just 10th at the Northeast-10 Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2016. Now she’s the national champion.

Ostensibly, the NCAA has a policy in place to protect cisgender women athletes and prevent male-to-female transgender athletes from dominating the women’s category. The NCAA transgender handbook states that an MTF transgender athlete must take “one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment” in order to compete in the women’s category, but the vagueness of that statement is remarkable. There is no mention of a minimum testosterone level that must be achieved or a minimum level of medication that must be taken, nor how those levels are to be monitored. Contrast that to the International Olympic Committee, which requires that an MTF transgender athlete “must demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition.”

We reached out to the NCAA to ask for specifics on their transgender policy, and whether it is actually enforced with testing. They referred us to the the transgender handbook mentioned above and said we could expect a more detailed response on Wednesday.


Twitter photo via @NCAADII

Medical physicist Joanna Harper, who has served as an adviser to the IOC on transgender issues and has made the transition from male to female herself, said the NCAA doesn’t have a set limit for testosterone for trans women, nor does she believe there is consistent verification of T levels. “The NCAA has not set a maximum T level for trans women, and I don’t believe that they do any independent verification of hormone levels,” said Harper.

The theory goes that if one greatly reduces their testosterone, their performances in sport should decline significantly. Harper told me one would expect roughly a 10% decrease in performance for flat events (she wasn’t sure it would be the great in the hurdles due to the difference in hurdle heights). Yet Telfer is actually running faster in a few flat events as a woman as compared to what she ran as a man. Her 60-meter personal best as a man was 7.67. As a woman, it’s 7.63. Her flat 400-meter pb was 55.77 as a man and it’s 54.41 as a woman.

However, her coach Zach Emerson said that anyone looking only at Telfer’s times to try to see if the NCAA’s rules on testosterone suppression for MTF transgender athletes is effective would be making a mistake. He said that the difference between Telfer’s work ethic this year compared to her first three was vast.

“She’s been been incredibly motivated this year and I think the transition one million percent had something to do with that. It’s like night and day as far as what she was willing to do as an athlete and how committed she was,” said Emerson, who indicated that while Telfer always had a large presence on the team, she often only showed up to practice a couple of times a week until this year. As a coach, he said she wasn’t an athlete that he could rely on. “You couldn’t look at her during her first three years and say that’s an athlete doing their best. As a coach, I could not do that.”

Frustrated by the fact that track meets were the only place in her life where she was referred to a man, Telfer quit the team in January 2018 before coming back out for the women’s team in October with renewed motivation. Since coming back out for the women’s team, Emerson said Telfer has been a “model athlete” who has not missed a single day of practice, one who hit the weight room for the first time, one who stayed on top of her studies and one who made sure she got ample sleep.


Video of Telfer from earlier in the year
“She did phenomenally well [in doing all that we asked her this year] and has been a completely different, motivated athlete,” said Emerson. “It’s only worth doing if she does her best. She made that very, very clear at the start of this year — that she wants to do this because she loves the sport, she wants to do well, and she wants to be genuine to herself. And we held her accountable, saying, ‘You have to be an example for everybody else on our team — let alone everybody else [that is paying attention].’”

While Emerson admitted he doesn’t know how he would have reacted if he were a rival coach, he said he’s very proud of what Telfer has accomplished. “People can have opinions on that all they want, but at the end of the day as a coach, I have to be proud of someone that works their ass off and does the things that I ask and is a good teammate. You have to be proud of those things.”

—————
Another article where she says that being transgendered actually puts her at a disadvantage :rolleyes:

NCAA champion CeCe Telfer says ‘I have no benefit’ by being trans
1
The Franklin Pierce University graduate breaks her silence to respond to detractors who claim she has a physical advantage over other women.

By Dawn Ennis Jun 3, 2019, 10:05am PDTSHARE

CeCe Telfer
Screengrab via Twitter/ NCAA Division II
Picture the scene: the outdoor track at Javelina Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M University in Kingsville, Tex. It was 79 degrees, just before 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 25, 2019.

To the athletes competing in that night’s NCAA Division II National Championships, it was sweltering, and strong breezes didn’t cool them, they provided an additional hindrance to the fierce competition on this Southeast Texas night.

As he stood among his athletes, Franklin Pierce University track coach Zach Emerson watched senior CeCe Telfer prepare for the two events she was scheduled to run, the 100 and 400 meter hurdles.

Before the night was done, Telfer would beat her closest competitor by a second and a half, and then heft a trophy high above her head, to begin her reign as 2019 Division II national champion in the 400m. As far as we know, she is the first publicly out trans woman to win an NCAA track & field title.

View image on Twitter


FPU Ravens@FPUathletics

https://twitter.com/FPUathletics/status/1132442025754791937

National champion! #LetsFly


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However, at that moment, Emerson said he expected her to lose.

Caster Semenya of South Africa, to suppress her naturally high levels to be allowed to compete — unless she overturns that decision on appeal.

Emerson notes he’s seen the difference testosterone suppression has had on Telfer’s performance as an athlete, in the nearly two years since she’s been on hormones.

“She has lost muscle, she lost some weight,” he said. “She is not as explosive or as fast. A lot of her lifting numbers have gone down, so strength-wise, that has gone down quite a bit. Last year, her time slowed down considerably over the previous year’s, as her muscle mass decreased.” Telfer’s old records can be viewed here and compared to her current record.

“I wish people would understand what testosterone is, and what it can do for your body, and how when you’re suppressing that, how hard it is to to go through certain challenges,” like trying to compete on that hot Texas night after losing the 100m.

Getting into the groove
Telfer said she didn’t hear the boos some spectators hurled at her, as she steeled herself for the 400.

“When I’m in the block, and I’m on the track, I don’t listen for anything else but positive vibes and people yelling ‘Go CeCe!’” said Telfer. “Pretty much anything that is is attached to me finishing strong in a race.”

Emerson said the heckling has actually lessened since the very first meet in which she competed as a woman, the UMass Boston Indoor Open at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, MA., on December 1, 2018.

At that point, it had been more than a year since Telfer began her medical transition; she had been undergoing prescribed hormone therapy since the start of her junior year, in the fall of 2017.

Via Twitter
“That first meet she ran, there were some audible gasps, and boos,” Emerson recalled. “I remember my legs going numb. It just felt like a dream. But it has gotten a whole lot better.”

At Telfer’s first meet as CeCe, she placed first in the 60m hurdles, both in the preliminaries and the final, finishing with a time of 8.40. She came in 6th in the high jump.

Telfer cleaned up at the Elm City Challenge in Southern Connecticut, winning 1st place in both the 55m hurdles and the Pentathlon. A 2nd place finish at Middlebury in January was the last time she’d lose a race that month.

And it wasn’t long before all those victories caught the eye of the news media, starting with her hometown paper, The Keene Sentinel: “Senior Cece Telfer ranks first in the country in the 60-meter hurdles (personal-best 8.33 seconds), second in the pentathlon (3735 points), sixth in the 60-meter dash (7.57) and is tied for 17th in the high jump (1.65 meters).“


Telfer’s scores helped propel the FPU Ravens women’s track and field team to earn its first-ever ranking in the national top 25 by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. She also won individual titles in the 60M, 200M and 60M hurdles at the Northeast-10 Championships.

But as she racked up wins, the buzz surrounding Telfer spread to conservative right-wing and anti-LGBTQ fundamentalist Christian sites, with nasty headlines screaming about Telfer being “born a man” who “switched to female,” and is “destroying women’s sports.”

She did so well, in fact, that Donald Trump, Jr., took notice.

Via Twitter

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The negative press spawned a wave of hate and transphobia across social media that has continued unabated for months. Much of it is misgendering, memes that deny Telfer’s authentic gender identity and accuse her of being a mediocre athlete who only competes as a girl to win.

“There is no other word for it other than ‘complete ********,’” said an exasperated Coach Emerson, who said he “turns into a mama grizzly bear” if he hears someone at a meet refer to Telfer by the wrong pronouns. He also takes the time to respond to the false claims that have spread across the internet.

“It’s unfair to ‘real girls’”
Emerson gets this argument most often from parents of cisgender girls, who argue transgender girls cost their daughters college scholarships and other opportunities. As a straight, cisgender father of daughters himself, he concedes he struggles with the question of how he would feel and what he would tell his girls if they lost to a transgender athlete. Ultimately, though, it comes down to a life lesson, he said.


“I would tell them, ‘Nothing that anyone else is doing can take away from the tools that you were learning by you personally getting better. And that’s why you should be doing this sport, as opposed to if you’re doing this just for trophies.“

A 16-year-old cis girl who lost to two transgender girls in a state competition in Connecticut posted a video to YouTube about their “unfair advantage,” and calling on Congress to reject the Equality Act, which would allow trans students nationwide to compete according to their gender identity. Her mother organized a petition to change the rules allowing trans athletes to compete, after those two transgender girls — Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller — came in first and second place in state races.

“The reason why parents can be very difficult sometimes dealing with their two most important things in their entire life is usually their kids and their money,” Emerson said. “Sports overlap both of them. And so you know I would never say that what she feels is wrong. It’s your child, the most important thing in the world to you. And, money, whether it’s how much money you spent on that child to become a better athlete, or opportunities for college, emotions are going to run high. And I don’t think she’s wrong for having those emotions. But at the same time, as a college coach, I think if you asked any college coach about that argument they would laugh at that. We look at paper, we don’t look at finishes; we don’t look at who’s a state champ, we look at what their time was.”

“The race is already over”

CeCe Telfer, center, as seen moments prior to the start of the 60M hurdles.
Screengrab/NCAA


“Couldn’t cut it as a male athlete. That man should not be running women’s races”
That’s what the assistant coach at the College of Staten Island tweeted after Telfer’s victory in the 400m. Emerson took exception, called his remarks “unacceptable,” and tweeted a promise to follow up with the coach’s administration. Emerson vigorously refutes the claim Telfer was a mediocre male athlete.







CeCe struggles
Her gender dysphoria manifested itself at every meet in which she competed against men, Telfer told Outsports.



Early in 2018, Telfer decided she was done with track. She informed Emerson, who is also the assistant athletic director at Franklin Pierce, that she had begun her transition from male to female. “She had decided she no longer wanted to be a male athlete,” he recalled, and admits he didn’t recognize the mental anguish she was going through, and only focused on what Telfer was walking away from.



“I felt like that was a bad move for her because she was going to lose a lot of accountability and social time,” he said. “I had no idea that there were NCAA rules put in place that would allow her to participate on the women’s side. I would have suggested that immediately.”

By September 2018, Telfer returned, and promised Emerson that she would not quit. He promised in return that the coaches and teammates would support her every step of the way.

“I thought she might be a little naive to what sort of negative attention might be lurking around the corner when she does start performing,” said Emerson.

“I was in a really dark place”

CeCe Telfer
Franklin Pierce University
Telfer said her coaches and teammates have acted as online bodyguards, blocking haters and keeping her social media on lockdown after the first wave of hate earlier this year.

“When I saw all of it, it was rough, and I was in a really dark place,” Telfer said, Fortunately her thoughts have never drifted toward self-harm, but she admits, “It’s part of a constant struggle.”

The haters who use news of her achievements as a catapult to launch attacks upon other transgender athletes and trans youth are of special concern to Telfer, especially those whose families have abandoned them. Three hours after graduation, Telfer came out to her mother.

“I’m basically shunned,” she revealed. “I don’t really have family members or anybody to be there for me.”


CeCe Telfer
Screengrab via Twitter NCAA
Her mother and those other relatives were not there for Telfer on May 25, when she won her national championship title. She led the pack across the finish line by more than a second, in a personal collegiate-best time of 57.53 seconds, according to the university website. Her finish was two seconds shy of the NCAA Division II record. And even without family there to cheer her on, she said her track family made it special, and winning that trophy was still a thrill. “So that was pretty, pretty awesome,” she said.

“Don’t you kinda wish you could do this again?” Emerson recalled asking her. He said she told him, “‘I don’t really feel much different.’ But she was happy. She just was not disappointed for the first time in quite a while.” Which is what Telfer has become accustomed to, given her family’s rejection.

“I’ve prepared for this my whole life, basically because I knew that my my family was never accepting and I knew that I had to do what I had to do.”

And what she does now, she said, is reach out to trans youth through social media, to offer them the support she wished she had when she was younger.



Emerson concedes that he set his expectations too low for his national champion. “I didn’t give her the respect her strength deserved,” he said. “She was so much stronger through this entire last year than I was ever possible of giving her credit for. She deserves all the freaking credit in the world.”

This Friday, June 7, CeCe Telfer will join transgender women athletes Andraya Yearwood, Chloe Psyche Anderson and Athena Del Rosario in Los Angeles for a panel moderated by Outsports managing editor Dawn Ennis at Outsports Pride.
 

dancinstallion

Well-Known Member
So it began and is here full effect. I said this back in 2009 when everyone welcomed Caster that this was unfair. Now nationwide mediocre subpar men are racing against girls and women and taking their scholarships, awards, money, and trophies. What's fair about this?
 
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ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
Her gender dysphoria manifested itself at every meet in which she competed against men, Telfer told Outsports
Why? Because he was losing perhaps.
“I think I'm in this world for a reason. I think I am a living testimony. I would say I'm a savior.
Okay now this is crazy talk. Fine keep your ability to play in the general women's sport. That's fine. Keep it. Trans are welcome as well. Open sports for the cis women only. Otherwise all the cis women will not get a fair chance because we try to be fair to everyone else. Women sure know how to sacrifice themselves.
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
Caster Semenya loses appeal in Swiss court over restriction of testosterone levels
By George Ramsay and Jill Martin, CNN

Updated 6:29 AM ET, Wed September 9, 2020





















The 11-year-old record-breaker with Tokyo 2020 on his mind

Champions League returns but not as you've seen it before







(CNN)Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya has lost an appeal against the restriction of testosterone in female athletes, it was announced Tuesday.

Under World Athletics guidelines introduced last year, Semenya would have to take testosterone-reducing drugs in order to compete in races from 400m to a mile, which the 29-year-old has chosen not to do.

Switzerland's Federal Supreme Court dismissed Semenya's appeal, upholding the ruling made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last year regarding female runners, like Semenya, with differences of sexual development (DSD).
"Chills my people, a man can change the rules but the very same man cannot rule my life," Semenya wrote on Twitter after the ruling was announced.


Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, videos and features
Semenya competes in the women's 200m final during the Athletics Gauteng North Championships in Pretoria in March.


Semenya competes in the women's 200m final during the Athletics Gauteng North Championships in Pretoria in March.
"What I'm saying is that I might have failed against them (but) the truth is that I have won this battle long ago.
"Go back to my achievements then you will understand. Doors might be closed (but) not locked."

Semenya, who won 800m gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, in March said she wouldtarget the 200m, an event she is permitted to compete in without taking medication to reduce her naturally elevated testosterone levels.

Sharron Davies: Semenya has 'unfair platform'





She was competing in the 200m in her native South Africa earlier this year with an eye on qualifying for the Olympics before the postponement of this year's Games was announced.

"I am very disappointed by this ruling, but refuse to let World Athletics drug me or stop me from being who I am," Semenya said in a statement released via her lawyers, according to PA Media.

"Excluding female athletes or endangering our health solely because of our natural abilities puts World Athletics on the wrong side of history.

"I will continue to fight for the human rights of female athletes, both on the track and off the track, until we can all run free the way we were born. I know what is right and will do all I can to protect basic human rights, for young girls everywhere."
World Athletics welcomed the decision by the Swiss courts to uphold what it deems "a legitimate and proportionate means of protecting the right of all female athletes to participate in our sport on fair and meaningful terms."

A statement from the governing body said: "World Athletics fully respects each individual's personal dignity and supports the social movement to have people accepted in society based on their chosen legal sex and/or gender identity.

"As the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) specifically recognized, however, the DSD regulations are not about challenging an individual's gender identity, but rather about protecting fair competition for all female athletes."
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
I’m very curious what would be the “endangerment” effects if she did lower her testosterone to be within the levels set.
I don’t doubt that there are some side effects ,possibly increased risk of cancers...but I think the biggest effect she’s worried about is the increased chance of losing her races . She also probably does not want to become more physically feminine. She seems very comfortable in her masculine traits. Having a flat chest is more conducive to running, for example.
 

Theresamonet

Well-Known Member
Am I correct in assuming Caster is losing her battle because it’s a Swiss court? If this were in the US, it seems like she’d be able to compete and steal all she wants from women... Why is that trans man CeCe, posted above, allowed to compete in women’s sports? Is the US so far gone when it comes to this trans thing that men can now just say “feel like a woman inside”, and be allowed to dominate all the women’s sporting events??
 
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