Boston Marathon Allows Male ‘Transgender’ Runners to Compete as Women

By Life Site News. The annual Boston Marathon begins on Monday, April 16, but this year the event comes with a dose of transgender politics.

At least five men who openly identify as women are slated to compete next week, and will be recognized under their “gender identity” rather than their biological sex, the Associated Press reports.

“We take people at their word. We register people as they specify themselves to be,” Boston Athletic Association head Tom Grilk said. “Members of the LGBT community have had a lot to deal with over the years, and we’d rather not add to that burden.” He added that there was little debate over the decision within the organization.

The Boston Athletic Association clarified to NPR that while this is how the marathon will operate in practice, it has no written policy that specifically addresses transgendered runners.

“We don’t require that runners outline their gender identity history with us, so we can’t say for certain how many trans runners are in our race,” it said in a statement. “We do know that we have had several transgender runners in the past.” (Read more from “Boston Marathon Allows Male ‘Transgender’ Runners to Compete as Women” HERE)

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Boston, Other Marathons Say Trans Men Can Compete as Women

By AP. . .Several other major marathons said they have no official policies but are taking a similar approach to Boston. Organizers of the Chicago, New York City, London and Los Angeles marathons all said they honor the gender that runners submit during sign-ups.

“We want to be inclusive and sensitive to all of our participants,” said Carey Pinkowski, Chicago Marathon executive race director. “At this point, we don’t feel that we need to require legal or medical records or anything along those lines.” . . .

In elite competition, debate has mostly focused on transgender “women”, who typically require surgery or medication to lower their testosterone levels. Olympic officials issued new rules in 2016 saying trans women can compete if their testosterone levels stay beneath a certain limit, and many professional races now follow similar rules. (Read more from “Boston, Other Marathons Say Trans Women Can Compete as Women” HERE)

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